


We Didn’t Start The Fire

by Poprocks_El



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Abusive Father, Also fluff, Aunt May knows about Peter being Spidey, Bad language everywhere, Bi Peter Parker, Daddy Issues, F/M, Flash is a little shit, I'm Bad At Tagging, Loki has a small crush on the reader but the reader ignores that, Mentions of Rape, Not really slow burn, Rape, Smut, Supervillains, little brother, loki and reader become friends, loki is kind of an asshole, peter is fluffy, tom holland - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2020-08-13 14:17:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 56,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20175664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poprocks_El/pseuds/Poprocks_El
Summary: (Y/N)=Your name(Y/L)=Last name(H/C)=Hair color(F/C)=Favourite color(F/F)=Favourite food(F/D)=Favourite drink(E/C) = Eye color(F/S)=Favourite songHi guys! This is my first fanfic ever - If you see grammar mistakes just report them to me, and also feel free to suggest parts or things you want to see happen. Hopefully this’ll be long, and I will update it every 1-2 weeks maybe but more often if I have the time to write more chapters! There will be a lil bit of smut in some places, and I’m not gonna make it too kinky in case you don’t really like specific kinks but I will put a warning if you don’t like that, you can skip it - I’ll make sure you don’t miss anything important in the plot. (Y/N) doesn’t have powers but is a mathematical and scientific genius and uses her wits while saving people during nightly patrols. She moved to Queens with her abusive father and her little brother. She meets Peter at school, and so it begins. I will put warnings when and where there is smut or abuse in the chapter. If you come across smut you can just skip it but there might be something important at the very end of some sections (idk yet but just look at the very start and very end)





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Warnings: abuse, rape warning

When (Y/N) received her results for the IQ test, her Dad glared at her. “There’s no way this is accurate.” He spat at her. (Y/N) just laughed in disbelief.

“For once, he’s right.” She said to Mr. Blanchett, her maths teacher.

“Although I would generally agree with you, I feel your daughter might be a special case. She’s top of her class, and seemingly unbeatable for that spot - and you should see what kind of work she’s doing!” He laughed nervously, glancing at (Y/N)’s dad, who was glaring daggers at (Y/N). Mr. Blanchett handed him a small stack of papers. “These are her test results over the last month and from her last school. She excels at every area of maths, and I’ve been trying to challenge her lately with questions that should be outside of her knowledge but-” he laughed again “-I swear, nothing can faze your daughter! She just breezes through every question I give her, and believe it or not, I’ve started giving her college questions, and guess what? She does them like basic maths!”

(Y/N) was silent as her father shuffled through the papers in front of him. She managed to stop a small smile from creeping onto her face when she saw out of the corner of her eye her dad’s eyes widening a little in shock as he saw the questions she was working through. Her heart skipped a little when she looked back at the results from the IQ test. She knew exactly where she was on the scale of intelligence. With a test score of 147, she was ranked somewhere around the top 25 most intelligent people with a recorded IQ score. Her head couldn’t quite wrap around the enormity of that statement.

Her heart dropped a little when she heard her father speak again. “You’re cheating, aren’t you, you little shit?” Mr. Blanchett gaped.

“Dad…” she said to the angry man named Adam.

“Now, sir, that’s not exactly possible in the conditions-” Adam cut him off. He turned to (Y/N), red faced, and spat out a command.

“Do an equation. Now. And you,” he said, pointing to Mr. Blanchett, “Write her one.” Mr. Blanchett did as he was asked, and gave it to the girl, who was trying not to shake under the pressure of having her father in the room. She relaxed a little when she saw the question. It was a few years above her level, and would be difficult to understand for an average student her age, but she had learnt it a few months ago and found them fairly easy to understand.

(Y/N) grabbed a pen off the maths teacher and it took her about two minutes to do the equation. She returned it to the teacher and he looked over it. The silence in the room was deafening. He nodded, turning to (Y/N)’s father. “She’s right.” The teacher said. “And did you know she also excels in science-” Her dad shook his head, grabbed his bag, and left the room. (Y/N) knew she would be walking home again today, although her dad brought his car. _Parent-teacher interviews are the worst._ She thought.

“Sorry, sir.” She mumbled, and the kind teacher bit his lip.

“I think it’s you who deserves an apology, (Y/N). I can’t imagine living with such a bad tempered man!” (Y/N) managed a small smile at this.

“I should go..” she said, swiping up her bag and the results for her IQ test, and heading towards the door. “Thanks for the interview.” When she came across the next bin, she balled up her results and threw them away.

The walk home took her nearly an hour. She had to wake up at 5.30 every school morning just to get to school on time, her dad wouldn’t even consider dropping her off, and wouldn’t give her money for the bus. She had to save her pitiful monthly pay for when they needed groceries or she needed new clothing or spare parts. When she was feeling particularly tired after a late night doing homework or fighting crime, she would take some coins out of her hidden jar of spare change. She had to hide her money under the floor after she found out that her dad would search for it and spend it drinking and gambling at the local pub.

It was dark when (Y/N) got home, slipping in through the back door. She tiptoed past her father’s room and into her little brother’s. He was 13, three years younger than her, and although he was just going into puberty and was nearly always moody, he helped her with everything around the house, and she would help him with anything he needed. He was the one thing in the world that she loved. _I would do anything for him. _

That was why she didn’t do anything about the abuse. (Y/N)’s father got violent when drunk or high - which was pretty much all the time - and would kick punch, scratch, and throw things at her. The worst part was, she couldn’t do anything about it except cover the bruises and cuts with longer sleeves and concealer, loose jeans and high socks. Her father constantly threatened to turn the abuse to her brother Caleb if she were to tell anybody about it, so she didn’t. She just took the abuse and the pain for the two years since her mother died.

Caleb looked up from his desk as (Y/N) came in. “Was it bad?” He asked softly.

“It was… as to be expected.” She replied. “Has he said anything?” Caleb shook his head.

“Nah. He just came in, grabbed a couple beers and went into his room. Haven’t heard anything since.” She nodded.

“You need any help?” She asked.

“Yeah, I’m having a little trouble with the maths here…”

Once (Y/N) had explained the maths problems to Caleb, she crept back to her room. It was now around 9.00, and she was still fully awake. She sat down on her broken bed and began unpacking her school bag, checking her timetable for tomorrow so she could pack in advance. Maybe she would have time for a quick shower in the morning, depending on if she could get herself up the next day.

She scanned the news quickly on her phone, and, seeing no signs of recent crime activity in her area, decided to make her patrol a quick one. Maybe she would go out again later. She pried up the floorboard next to her bed and tugged out her suit. She had spent nearly two and a half years designing and developing the black catsuit and it’s limited functions. Each new piece she had to get, she saved up for herself or found.

No matter how bad her situation was, she would never steal. Not since she nearly got caught taking some electronics from a store. She had just managed to evade the security guards with the parts. To be fair, they were bloody expensive and she needed them for the last few parts of her suit. She was incredibly happy with the end product. Her A.I, which she had spent around a year coding and developing to almost sentience, switched on when she pulled on the mask of her suit.

(Y/N) had just finished making small implants for her ears through which she could communicate with her A.I., but she had yet to try them out. She really hoped they worked, because they had taken forever to make, what with them being tiny and all. To wear them, she just had to push them deep into her ears. They didn’t block out any regular sound, but with them she could enhance her hearing and communicate with El. (Y/N) was also considering making some small adjustments so she could also make calls with them. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VCLoWV3cR2h4QvzM7ITFFwCKjnekpUpF5l_crwj-H6Q (Suit looks a little like this but maybe with cat ears? If you don’t like it, just picture what you want, really sorry if the link doesn’t work)

(Y/N) slid out the window as silently as possible and clambered down the fire escape. ELSI (Which stands for Engineered Logical Simulated Intelligence) made the Windows startup sound, and (Y/N) laughed quietly. She thoroughly enjoyed that little engineering detail. “Hey El.” She said as she climbed up onto the next building’s rooftop.

“Hello (Y/N). Would you like me to run a scan for crime in the area?”

“That’d be great, thanks.” (Y/N) replied to her A.I. As she took a running jump onto the next roof over. She glanced down into the street every so often as ELSI ran her scan, and continued on her way once she made sure there was no trouble. After nearly two minutes of warming up, ELSI spoke up again.

“Activity detected in the area of Forest Hill.” El rattled off a street name, then began to give directions. A few minutes later, (Y/N) appeared on the scene, panting slightly. The catsuit was tight and clung to her skin, but it contained some pretty cool shit from the resources she had available, if she did say so herself. Some of the suit’s functions included ELSI (obviously), some small but powerful jets on the hands and feet, which she couldn’t use for long periods of time as they had small batteries and needed at least five minutes to recharge themselves, and lots of pockets and sheaths for her weapons.

Her weapons itinerary was small but each thing was effective. Most of it was tech she had developed, but she had a couple of good old-fashioned knives just in case, and some classic smoke pellets for confusion. Most of the weapons she had created herself were for close combat, like her retractable taser and her mini tranquilliser gun, but she had a couple long range weapons too. These included small stun bombs and - her favourite - the webs she had created from an idea based off the superhero Spiderman.

She had yet to meet the masked boy in the red and blue suit, even though she shared a community with him. She had studied every video on the internet of him, zoomed in on his web shooters every time he used them. (Y/N) had made similar tech, but never trusted the web to carry her weight - she only ever used it for pinning or trapping people until she could get to them. The web held strong for at least two minutes and then dissolved, and in that time she could usually get to them and restrain them.

(Y/N) watched the scene below her from the roof of a sandwich shop. She was new to the area and had yet to fully map out the section of the city. Currently, she had to use her A.I’s GPS to find her way around. Two men had a young looking woman trapped at the end of an alleyway. She was backed up against the far corner, cowering as the men towered over her. (Y/N) couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. “El,” she hissed, “enhance hearing.”

The voices became clearer. “What do you want to do? Kill her then shag her, or shag her then kill her?” (Y/N)’s eyes widened in horror and disgust at the lowlifes below her. _How can anybody have thoughts that vile? _

She leapt off the building and slammed feet first into the ground, her boots absorbing the shock exactly the way she built them to. She nearly smiled at that, but remembered that she was making an entrance. “Hey bitches!” She called out. Both men turned around and looked at her in shock. “Wanna try and skedaddle before you get what’s coming to you?” (Y/N) never had any intention to give them the chance to escape, she just wanted to see them try.

“Who the fuck are you?” The man on the left asked in annoyance.

“You, my good sir, can call me Cougar.” The men glared at her, then the one on the right, who had a distinctive and ugly scar running down the middle of his forehead, whispered something to lefty. They both turned to (Y/N), and, before she could wonder what they were doing, came barrelling towards her from the end of the alley.

Scarhead reached her first, arms outstretched. She sidestepped and grabbed his left arm, using his momentum to swing him around into the other man. She released his arm and the two men flew into the brick wall. (Y/N) laughed. “You’ve never fought anyone like me before, have you?” She asked cockily, using the spring-based boots to leap a couple metres to where the two men were getting up.

Lefty struggled to his feet first, shoving off Scarhead. “You bitch!” He yelled, throwing an off-balance punch which wildly missed the girl. Cougar unsheathed her taser and flicked it out to it’s full length, ducking under the large man’s arm and swiping the electrical stick hard against the back of Scarhead’s knee. He went down with a bellow which satisfied (Y/N).

The man on the ground in front of her provided only a few seconds of distraction, but that was a few seconds too long. The other man tackled her to the ground, and Cougar felt her heart stop when she saw the glint of silver, a knife catching the light from the streetlights. He pinned her to the concrete ground, and her taser slid away from her.

“Got you now, little girl.” He snarled into her ear. (Y/N) just grinned, gripped the man’s shirt, pulled him in, and kissed him. Lefty was absolutely caught off guard, and while the girl pressed her lips to the vile man’s, she drew her legs up to her chest, activated the jets on her feet, and pushed him off her with a ferocious kick.

Once again, he slammed into the side of the alley. She pinned both the males down with the sticky web, but there was no need. Both were unconscious. She looked up, but the woman had disappeared. (Y/N) retrieved her taser and sheathed it, turning back around to check that the coast was clear so she could drop the pair at the police station. It was not.

A boy in a red and blue bodysuit stood at the entrance to the alleyway. There was a moment of silence. “Hi.” (Y/N) said.

“Uh.. hi.” He replied. “Nice fighting.” The girl thanked him. There was an awkward pause. This was not exactly the way she wanted to meet the local superhero.

“Can you.. take these to the police station?” (Y/N) gestured to the two on the ground.

“Yeah, sure.” He replied. _God, this is so awkward…_ she thought in her head before firing up her jets.

“I guess I’ll see you around.” Cougar said, then lifted off.

“Yeah… wait - what’s your name?” Spider-boy asked.

“Call me Cougar!” She yelled back, and crested the rooftop.

She landed only a few feet away on the roof and paused, her heart racing. _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_ She cursed herself. _Why are you so awkward?_ (Y/N) crept back towards the edge of the roof to watch the Spider-boy webbing up the guys and swinging them up with him through the streets. He looked back quickly one time, and they met each other’s eyes. He waved. She swore.

Twenty minutes later, (Y/N) was absolutely exhausted. Her calves burned from running jumps from rooftops, and except for those two men, nothing was happening. “El, what are the chances that there will be more bad guys later?” She asked.

“The odds of more criminal activity tonight are low. I believe that nothing violent will occur tonight.” The artificial intelligence replied.

“Okay. I think I might go home then, get some sleep. God, it’s like… what time is it?”

“The time is 11.46pm.”

(Y/N) slipped back through her window, shutting it silently behind her. She made sure to keep it well oiled and functional. Her room was a little cold, and the cool air hit her skin as she slipped off her catsuit, being careful with her oh-so-carefully designed tech. She pried back the floorboard and stored it there with the rest of her valuables.

The large space under the floor contained everything precious she owned, things like her half-finished tech projects and spare parts, money that she worked so hard to earn with both her underpaying jobs, her suit and mask, and the things she valued most in the world - the few photographs of her family before they moved, before her mother died, before Adam started to hurt her.


	2. Chapter 2

“You, my girl,” -Mr Kleiner clamped a hand on (Y/N)’s shoulder, almost painfully hard- “Should join the Decathlon team! In fact, I'll sign you up myself!” The enthusiastic science teacher had latched onto her pretty much as soon as she had joined the school after moving to Queens, and would continually suggest that she join the Decathlon team. He had yet to do anything about it though. She was almost considering signing up just to make him stop.

“That sounds great, sir.” She replied with a pained smile. It was only the second period of the day and she was tired of school already. The only good thing about the day so far was that she was finally testing out her earpieces, and they were (so far) working perfectly.

Gym class was next. She hoped they’d be doing something fun, like dodgeball or another game, but the teachers had just started the fitness section of P.E., and they were forced to sit and watch a short clip of Captain America describing the exercise they were about to endure. The hour began with them running a few laps around the gym.

(Y/N) breezed past everyone jogging. Months, years even, of extensive rooftop running and martial arts training gave her a good build and extremely strong legs. She had built her stamina in the time that she was developing her suit, for the purpose that she could keep up with anyone, any time, and not run out of breath or energy. She dropped her pace a little when she realised that people were looking at her.

The teen kept the same pace as the general group of students, sticking behind two boys talking to each other in low tones. One had darker skin and straight brown hair, the other was more pale, pretty cute, with messy light brown hair. Looking around, (Y/N) found this to be the perfect time to test out her earpieces. “El, enhance hearing.” She whispered. Her hearing sharpened, and she tuned in to the conversation the two boys were having.

“... a girl last night. I haven’t seen her before.” The cute one said between pants. (Y/N) nearly stopped listening after assuming they were just talking about some girl, and after all she had seen that her tech worked. But what she heard next nearly stopped her jogging altogether. “Yeah, she was wearing a black kinda catsuit thing with a mask, and she single-handedly took on two men each double her size, it was incredible! And afterwards she just, like, flew away on these jet kinda things like Iron Man!”

(Y/N)’s mouth went dry. _Shit. But… nobody else was there except that woman. _Somehow she doubted that the woman was this boy in front of her._ How could I have been seen? I was supposed to leave the publicity to Spider-Man, dammit!_ She cursed her stupidity. She never wanted to go public. Ever. Unless it was unavoidable. She really, really hoped that the boy and his friend didn’t spread the story around.

After gym class, (Y/N) got changed in one of the toilet cubicles, expertly re-applying concealer to the bruises on her arms and legs. Nobody could see her other bruises as long as she kept wearing at least a T-shirt and knee length shorts. She took a total of three minutes to do so, then jogged to the cafeteria, where nobody was waiting for her.

She generally stayed away from people, and besides, who in their right mind would want to be friends with her? She shook her head out of the self-pity and continued to the lunch line, where she grabbed her lunch and headed to one of the back tables. On her way, she passed that boy and his friend. There was another girl with them too, with curly hair and a thoughtful expression. (Y/N) remembered her from her English class. _MJ, I think her name is?_ (Y/N) made eye contact with the cute one on accident. He smiled and she blushed, hurrying past him with her lunch. He turned and watched her sit at the table in the very corner. She felt his eyes on her the whole way.

She kept her eyes down and began to eat her food. She felt a shadow above her and flinched, looking up. The boy was standing next to her table looking at her. “Hey,” He said with a smile. “You’re new here, right?”

“Yeah. I’ve been here a month.”

“Wanna join us over here?” (Y/N) looked at him sceptically, and, seeing nothing that didn’t seem genuine, replied.

“Okay.” She picked up her stuff and followed him back to where he sat. _Don’t let him recognise you. You don’t know how much of you he saw._ She told herself, and sat down at the table.

She was greeted with smiles from everyone. “My name’s Peter, this is Ned and this is MJ.” Peter said, gesturing to the two next to him.

“Hey. I’m (Y/N).” The girl replied, smiling. Maybe she’d actually make some friends today. The four of them got to know to know each other over the next half hour, and by the time the bell rang, (Y/N) found that she was actually having fun with these people. They were nerds - just like her - but cool ones. Suddenly, (Y/N) was looking forward to tomorrow. She could only hope that Peter didn’t recognise her from last night. _I mean, only my hair and eyes are uncovered, pretty much._ She tried to reassure her twisting gut. It didn’t work very well.

(Y/N) was packing up her bag in the last period of the day. She left the class, and turned around after thanking the teacher for the lesson, only to bump into somebody standing outside the doorway. “Shit - sorry!” She exclaimed, and went to move aside, only to find the older girl blocking her way.

“Actually, I was hoping to bump into you - excuse the pun - your name’s (Y/N), right?” She asked. (Y/N) nodded. “Sweet! Well, your science teacher, Mr Kleiner, I believe, has told me to talk to you about the Academic Decathlon team. I was wondering if you’d be interested in signing up, or at least seeing what’s involved first?” (Y/N) groaned internally, but, not wanting to be rude, tried to show some interest.

“Uh.. yeah, okay. What day is it on?”

“Well, actually, it’s today, if that’s ok with you. It’s just around the corner, it’ll be really quick.” The senior looked hopeful. _Actually, that’s perfect. Caleb has his English club today. _

“Yeah, that’s fine. Just, uh - what’s your name?” (Y/N) questioned.

“Oh! Yeah, I almost forgot!” The older girl laughed. “I’m Liz. You can meet the rest of the team when we get there.” Liz grinned and started walking down the hall. (Y/N) followed. “I’ve had a look at your grades, and…” Liz paused and glanced at (Y/N), who went a little pale. “Jeez, girl, you know your stuff! Excellence in nearly every subject? I doubt even Peter Parker could top that!” The younger girl smiled again at the mention of her new friend’s name.

“You know Peter?”

“Oh, yeah! He’s in the Decathlon team too. MJ and Ned are too, you sit with them right?”

“Uh, yeah, as of today I guess…” Even before (Y/N) had even met the Decathlon club and seen what they do, the prospect of being in a club with her new found friends made her kind of happy. She wanted to have a common interest, so that they felt she belonged - otherwise she might end up back where she started, eating alone at the back table of the cafeteria.

Liz led her into the room with the Decathlon team. A boy stood at the front, firing off questions as the rest of the team put their hands up for each question. Liz cleared her throat, and the questions stopped. “This is (Y/N).” Liz said with a smile. “She might be interested in joining the team.”

Peter looked up from his notes. _Shit, it’s (Y/N). Don’t embarrass yourself in front of the cute girl, Peter._ He thought, flashing her a cute grin. She blushed a little and looked down. Flash spoke up from the other end of the table. “There’s a spare seat here, if you wanna sit down.” Peter wasn’t entirely sure if he imagined the suggestive glint in Flash’s eyes, and narrowed his eyes at the boy.

(Y/N) sat down next to Flash with a small smile, and Peter watched him closely as he started to show her the ropes. MJ nudged him. “You alright there Peter? You’re looking a little jealous.” She said, grinning.

“What?! Why would I be jealous? Besides, I’ve only just met her. It’s not possible to develop a crush that quick.” Peter hissed back at MJ.

“Yeah, but she’s cute, isn’t she?”

_Absolutely._ Peter thought, but kept silent. “So, (Y/N)!” Liz called out, and she raised her head from the paper she was folding into origami. “Wanna test out some of that knowledge of yours?” (Y/N) panicked slightly, but nodded. If people knew the extent of what her brain could do, she’d be looked at closer. She’d be at risk of someone finding out about her father and what he did to her, and there was no telling what he’d do to Caleb if people found out. “How’s your general knowledge?” Liz asked, and (Y/N) allowed herself a small smile.

“Pretty good, I think.” She replied to the senior. She noticed Peter watching her, and looked around to see the rest of the Decathlon team doing the same. She bit her lip. _Come on. Now is not the time for stage fright. You wanna make friends? Then don’t make a fool of yourself_.

“Okay… which spacecraft set off for Jupiter in 1972?” (Y/N) nearly laughed. She was an absolute space geek. She studied NASA for fun. She had watched every video from space on the internet.

“Pioneer 10.” She replied coolly.

“Correct! Next: which year did Freddie Mercury die?” (Y/N) grinned.

“1991.” _Easy. _

“Correct again! One more: in which US state is John F Kennedy buried?” _Umm._ She had to think for a moment.

“..Virginia?” (Y/N) was a little unsure of her answer, but apparently she was right, because Liz grinned.

“Looks like you’re in the team! I mean, if you want to be…” (Y/N) smiled back at her as the Decathlon team applauded.

“I’d love to be on the team.” She told the senior, and sat back down next to Flash, who put his hand on top of hers on the desk. (Y/N) looked down at their hands, a little weirded out, but left it. Peter, meanwhile, was battling the urge to go over and bitch slap Flash right across that smug face he was making. Peter knew Flash’s exact intentions. He toyed with a girl's emotions and dumped them as soon as he had got what he wanted. Ned and MJ were looking at him and grinning. Ned leaned over.

“I think Peter has a little crush…” he suggested. Peter adamantly denied it, and Ned looked at Peter sceptically. “Mm-hmm. Well, you might want to get in quick, because it looks like someone’s planning to get there before you.” Peter sighed and shook his head at Ned.

“Dude. Is it even humanly possible to get a crush on a girl that fast?” The team was dismissed, and people began to go their separate ways. (Y/N) grabbed her bag and started to leave, but Flash stopped her. They were alone in the empty class. “Um, Flash, I should go…”

“Hang on, I just wanna ask you something.”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Do you, um…” Flash rubbed the back of his neck. “Do you wanna go out sometime?” (Y/N) blinked. _Woah. That’s unexpected. He moves fast._

“Um, Flash…”

“Do you have a boyfriend? Because if you do that’s cool too, I just…” (Y/N) was about to say no, she didn’t, but another voice joined the conversation.

“Actually, she does. Me.” Peter stood beside her suddenly. (Y/N) blinked again. _What the hell is happening? I’m dating Peter?_ Flash immediately looked annoyed.

“Sup, dickwad?” He said to Peter. (Y/N) frowned. “Are you serious? You two are dating?” Flash continued. Before she could say anything, Peter spoke up again.

“Yeah. You got a problem with that?” Flash looked from (Y/N) to Peter, frowning a little.

“Uh.. no. I’ll see you around.” He said, and walked out of the classroom.

“What the hell was that? I had it handled.” (Y/N) turned to Peter. He looked a little awkward.

“Well, um… I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Flash is kind of… a fuckboy. He just plays with girl’s feelings and dumps them once he’s bored. I just didn’t think you’d be, you know, into that kind of thing. You’re not, are you?” He asked, looking concerned. She shook her head.

“Oh. Wow, okay. I didn’t know. Thanks for looking out for me.” She replied. “To be honest, I was gonna say no anyway… from what I saw this afternoon he isn’t really my type, even when he’s putting on his ‘charming’ act.” Peter looked relieved and nodded.

“Oh, cool. Anyway, I’ll see you around, I guess?” He asked hopefully, and she nodded.

“Definitely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo here’s another chapter. I probably won’t post this regularly but I’ll try post as much as possible, I write 1000 words a day so I can write up a chapter every couple of days to a week, depending how long it is. Again, if you like it, then thank you, and if you spot any mistakes feel free to tell me. Also you guys can request small scenes that you want me to write in, maybe nothing too major though if that’s okay. Enjoy 💕💕


	3. Chapter 3

Warnings: abuse

Adam backhanded (Y/N) across the face, then picked her up and slammed her into the wall. She cried out in pain as she was dropped and hit the ground. “Where the fuck were you?” He growled, and kicked her in the stomach. 

“I just.. joined a club!” (Y/N) choked out, curling into a ball. 

“So you’re not gonna come home and clean for us anymore? Not gonna do anything useful? Too good for us now, huh?” He sneered down at the girl, in the fetal position on the floor. “Pathetic. Clean yourself up.” Adam stalked away, leaving his daughter on the ground to wonder why the good side of the family had to die, and she got stuck with the bad half.  _ At least Caleb didn’t have to see this.  _ She thought. Her brother was still at his club.

Fifteen minutes later, (Y/N) was still trying to get up when she heard the front door open.  _ Shit. He’s back.  _ But it was only Caleb. He stepped in through the door and his eyes widened in shock when he saw his sister trying to stand. “ _ Shit,  _ (Y/N), what the hell happened?”

“Language.” She managed, still trying to get to her feet and wincing in pain. Her little brother ran to her and helped her up off the floor, draping her arm around his shoulders. She whimpered a little as they limped to her room. Caleb dropped his voice a little.

“Is he here?”

“No, he… left.”

“Okay. Okay.” The boy said, looking a little panicked. “Is anything broken?” She shook her head.

“Just bruises I think.” Caleb bit his lip.

“Look, (Y/N). We need to tell someone. Please.”

“No. He’ll hurt you.” Caleb just looked at her. (Y/N) gingerly lifted her shirt to expose her stomach. She heard a sharp intake of breath from her brother as he saw the canvas of bruises across her body. A new one was blossoming above her belly button. She groaned, and dropped her shirt again.

“Can you bring over my mirror?” She asked, and Caleb brought it over for her. She lifted up her shirt again to inspect the damage on her back.

“(Y/N)... you’re bleeding.” The skin on her back had spilt slightly. Her brother hurried to get some things to patch it up.

“Can you get some Panadol?” She called.

“Already got it!” He called back.  _ God, where would I be without him? Probably dead by now.  _ She grimaced at the thought. Caleb strode back into the room on his long legs and dumped some bandages and swabs on the bed.

“I thought we ran out of those.” Caleb looked sheepish.

“I bought some more.” He said.

“Dude! What did I say about buying things? And where the hell did you get the money?”

“I got a job.” He bit his lip. “You’re not mad, are you? I just wanted to help.” (Y/N) felt tears well up in her eyes. She didn’t deserve this boy in her life.

“Of course I’m not mad. I just want you to, you know, enjoy being a kid. I don’t want you to have to grow up too fast.” He nodded in understanding. 

“Yeah, well, I already have the stuff. Do you want me to fix your back or not?”

“Yes please.” She responded. He handed her a bottle of water and some painkillers, and set to work on her back. 

After a while of running around the top of the city that night, she was fairly sure that there was nothing going on. She was running across the edge of a shorter building when she felt someone next to her. She glanced to the side and saw a familiar red and blue clad someone swinging along beside her. “Hey, Spider-boy! How’s it going?” He did a double take and (Y/N) nearly laughed.

“Oh! It’s you! Cougar, right?” He questioned, swinging down onto her building as she slowed to a walk.

“That’s me.”

“Caught anybody tonight? It’s been pretty boring for me.” Spider-Man settled into an easy walk next to her. 

“Nah, it’s been the same for me. What do you usually do on nights like these?”

“Swing. Chill. Have fun.” He replied. He turned to her and stopped. “Wanna have a swing?” (Y/N) stopped and raised an eyebrow. 

“You’d carry me?”

“Sure, I mean, you look pretty light. Besides, I’ve been working out…” He held up an arm and squeezed his bicep while flexing.

“So you’re really gonna flex on me like that, huh?”

The boy grinned. At least, (Y/N) thought he did. It was hard to tell with the mask. He walked over and turned around. “Hop on.” She obliged. “Wow, yeah, you’re really light! Do you eat at all?” He was joking, but the comment hit a little too close to home for her and she winced. Spider-Man walked to the edge of the roof. “Ready?” He asked, and she nodded before realised he couldn’t see her.

“Absolutely.” She murmured into his ear. Peter tried to ignore the way she was wrapped around him and how her voice sounded in his ear. 

“Hold tight.” He jumped off the roof, and (Y/N) gripped onto him as she felt the web jerk as it took their weight. Pretty soon, though, she was enjoying herself thoroughly, whooping as they flew through the air. It was exhilarating, how fast they were going, and she loved it. She found that they came to a stop all too soon. “Ready to stop?” She was about to say no, but then realised how tired she was, and that the other teen probably was too.

“If we must,” (Y/N) said jokingly. Spider-boy chuckled. 

“I should get going.” He sighed. “It’s like, midnight already.” (Y/N) blinked.  _ Where did the time go? _

“Okay. I probably should too.” Spider-Man rubbed the back of his neck and looked away.

“I’ll see you again, right?”

“Of course.” (Y/N) deliberated for a second, then stepped forward and gave the other a brief hug. “Thanks. I had a lot of fun.” Peter blushed under the mask, grateful that she couldn’t see him. 

“See ya.”

“Bye!” She called, and watched him swing away. She actually felt happy. It was a foreign feeling, and she wanted to enjoy it while it lasted. She hoped that Adam wouldn’t be home in the morning. The utter fear and hatred she felt around him was overwhelming, and she wanted to start her day off on a good note. Maybe she could make her favourite breakfast. Or waffles. (Y/N) and Caleb both liked waffles.

At home, she shed her suit, wincing from the bruises and the fresh cut on her back. She’d have to get Caleb to change the bandages in a day or two. While folding her suit and putting it in its place under the floor, she tugged out her journal and a pen. She hadn’t updated for around half a week. Gingerly getting into bed, she opened it to a new page and dated it.

_ I don’t know what time it is so it could have been today or yesterday but I - yes, me, the sarcastic loner - made some friends! One of them happened to witness me on patrol the other day so I’m praying he doesn’t recognise me. I don’t know how close he got to me, but I guess he could only recognise me by my hair and eyes, which would be difficult. His name’s Peter, and boi is he fucking cute! He sits with a guy called Ned and a girl called MJ, who’s in one of my classes (I think?). They’re all really nice, and - even better - they’re geeks too. _

_ Peter saved me from having to go out with Flash, who is apparently the school fuckboy. Flash asked me out. Everything’s happening at once, it’s weird! And guess who I met, two nights in a row, on patrol? You might have guessed it - the Spider-boy himself. There was nothing happening tonight, so he ended up taking me for a swing, and holy shit was it fun! _

He  _ hit me again. There’s a cut on my back and a thicc new bruise on my stomach. Hurts like hell, as always. It happened this time because I joined a club. The Academic Decathlon team. They’re pretty cool, all very smart too. Peter, Ned, and MJ are all in the team too. I have finally found my people.  _

She shut the journal and returned it to the floor, clambering back into the bed. (Y/N) lay on her back and let her arms drop on her stomach, swearing when she forgot about the bruise. The next thing she heard was her alarm going off. It was 5.30 in the morning. “Shut… the fuck… up!” She exclaimed, and reluctantly rolled out of bed. She needed a shower.

(Y/N) turned the shower on cold, and stepped into the stream. She did this every morning, but that never made her body any more prepared for the shock of immersing herself in ice cold water. Instantly wide awake, she tried to make the shower brief, quickly scrubbing her hair and body before shutting off the water and stepping out, shivering.  _ At least it’s gonna be a warm day. _

Twenty minutes later, she was pouring batter into the waffle iron. She had heard nothing from her father’s room, and after listening at the door for a few minutes while some waffles cooked, determined that he wasn’t in the house.  _ Fuck it. I want music, I’m gonna play some music.  _ She grabbed her phone, switched on the volume, and began to play her favourite song. 

Her day, so far, had got off to a good start, and, after making sure Caleb was completely ready to go, began her walk to Midtown High at 7. She gave a start when she noticed that someone was walking next to her, and had a flash of deja vu from last night. “Hey, (Y/N)!” Peter was smiling at her. She smiled back for a few seconds before realising that she was staring at him.  _ God, I can’t help it. He’s really cute.  _

“Hey, Peter. How’s it going?”

“Fine, you?” (Y/N) contemplated what to reply. She was not, by definition, fine, but who wants to hear about that?

“I’m good. Ready for another day of sChOoLwOrK?” Peter grinned again, showing very white teeth. (Y/N) tried not to be too dazzled.

“Hmm. Well, with you there, how can it be boring?” He chuckled, then went red after realising what he’d said.  _ Stupid!  _ He cursed himself.  _ Stop embarrassing yourself!  _ He tried his hardest to fight the blush creeping further up his face, now that he’d realised that he was blushing he was blushing harder. (Y/N) was laughing. 

“Why the hell are you going red, nerd? You’re right, I’m not at all boring once you get to know me. I’ll take it as a compliment.” Peter smiled ruefully, before deciding to try and own it.

“Sorry, I guess I’m just not used to talking to pretty girls.” Now it was (Y/N)’s turn to blush.  _ He thinks I’m pretty?  _ They walked through the front of the school, to be met by MJ and Ned. 

“So, walking together, huh?” MJ teased, and Peter felt a blush creeping back up his neck.

“Shut it, MJ.” He hissed while (Y/N) greeted Ned. “I never realised that she goes the same way as me, ok? Besides, we were just talking.” MJ gave him a sideways glance as the four of them continued into the school. (Y/N) looked at her timetable.

“Anyone got chem first?” 

“I do, I think.” MJ said as Peter nodded.

“Yeah, I do.” He said. Ned looked a little disappointed. 

“I have maths…” he said with a pout. “We’re doing the worst topic at the moment. It’s algebra.” Peter showed his agreement. “The teacher is such a boring dude, I swear!” Ned began quietly muttering, looking frustrated. (Y/N) spoke up.

“I can help you, if you want.” Both boys looked up.

“Seriously?” They exclaimed in sync.

“That’d be amazing! I’m so behind!” Peter looked thrilled, and (Y/N) laughed. Ned, meanwhile, was already making plans.

“Are you guys free this Saturday?” He queried. (Y/N) looked to MJ. 

“You’re coming too, right MJ?” The curly haired girl rolled her eyes. 

“Yeah, losers. I’ll come.” (Y/N) was a little confused by her use of the word losers.

“If we’re such losers, why hang out with us?”

“Because I don’t have any friends.”

“Then what are we?” This caused MJ to pause for a second.

“...acquaintances?” Peter and Ned laughed, then Ned asked for (Y/N)’s number. This led to all of them swapping numbers with her. Then the bell rang, and they ran to their classes. (Y/N) loved chemistry. She was surprised that she hadn’t noticed Peter and MJ being in her class. In her defence, it was larger than average, and she only knew about half the people’s names. 

As she, Peter, and MJ walked into class, her hand brushed Peter’s. They both looked down, then looked at each other. (Y/N) hurried through the door to a table, her face flushed.  _ Do I seriously already have a crush on this boy? I mean, of course he’s cute, but… really? Two days? _

The day passed quickly, and at the end of it, she realised that it might have been the best day she had experienced in a long time. (Y/N) found herself hoping that Caleb had found the right people to be friends with. She had met his friends a while ago, and they all seemed nice, but from what she had seen her little brother wasn’t really ‘best friends’ close to any of them. She hoped that had changed by now. She was just walking out of school when she heard someone call her name. It was Peter. “Hey! Um, do you want a lift? Your house is kinda the same way as mine.”

She thought for a second. She really didn’t want Peter to see where she lived. Maybe she could get dropped off five minutes away or something. Before (Y/N) could change her mind, she agreed. “Cool! Well, my aunt is gonna pick us up. Is that cool?” The other teen nodded.

“Yeah. From what I’ve heard she’s really nice, I’d love to meet her!” Peter grinned. 

“Yeah, Aunt May is cool. Just don’t ever eat her cooking.” He laughed, and his laughter made (Y/N) smile.  _ God, he’s cute. Jeez, I swear that’s the only thing my thoughts are limited to at the moment.  _ At that moment, the two teens heard a car horn beeping. A pretty, early 30’s or so lady was waving furiously from the front of a clunky silver car. “That’s her!” Peter chuckled. 

They walked over to the car together, and May rolled down the window. “Hey Pete! Who’s this pretty girl?” Peter blushed.  _ There’s been a lot of blushing going on today,  _ he thought. 

“Um, May, this is (Y/N). (Y/N), my Aunt May.” He introduced the two to each other.

“Hi! It's nice to finally meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you!” Aunt May smiled. 

“Likewise.” (Y/N) replied, looking at Peter.

“May!” He groaned. 

“What? Just stating the facts.” We stood there for a second. “Well, what are you waiting for? Are you getting in or not?” May exclaimed. They got in the car, and May turned to face (Y/N). “So, hun, where are we dropping you off?” (Y/N) told her a street name close, but not too close to her house. “Sweet! We’re practically street neighbours!” The twenty minute drive was full of banter and laughter. The car trip was over far too early, but (Y/N) knew that if she waited any longer, they might see where she actually lived. She didn’t want to deal with Peter and May judging her far-below-average house. 

“This is fine, you can just drop me off here.” May obliged, pulling up to the curb. (Y/N) clambered out, accidentally knocking her bruise with the car door. She winced. Peter noticed.

“You alright?” 

“Yeah, fine.” She said hurriedly. “Thanks so much for the lift! It was really nice to meet you.”

“My pleasure. It was lovely meeting you too, hun.” May replied. “And you can call me Aunt May.”

“Bye, Peter!”

“See you tomorrow!” (Y/N) shut the car door. May pulled away and began driving back to their house. 

“She’s pretty cute. You should keep her.” They made eye contact in the mirror.

“May!”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Unless…” she scrutinised her nephew. He broke eye contact, and May smirked. “You do like her?”

“Why does  _ everybody  _ think that?”

“Maybe because it’s true?” Peter’s aunt asked. He tilted his head back and sighed in response. _Maybe it is, _Peter thought. “Anyway, how was your day, honey?”

“Good.” May rolled her eyes. 

“Any other words? Some descriptive ones, maybe?”

Meanwhile, (Y/N) was stepping inside her house. After a swift room sweep, she concluded that Adam wasn’t there. She could relax. She picked up her phone, and saw some texts from Peter confirming that he had given her the right number. Smiling, (Y/N) put down her phone again to go through her homework. “El?” She spoke to the software in her ear when she finished.

“Hey there.” The A.I. replied.

“Set countdown for two hours please.”

“Done.” (Y/N) promptly fell asleep on her bed, aiming to catch up on around six or seven hours of sleep in only 120 minutes. 

The girl woke up three hours later. Her alarm was still going off in her ear, and she could hear someone blundering around the house. She groaned internally, shutting off her alarm and getting up quietly. She felt at least a little better than before. Checking the time, she swore in a hushed tone. It was nearly 6.00 in the evening. She needed to make some dinner. 

After waiting five minutes until her father had settled, (Y/N) walked out cautiously, praying Adam was in a vaguely neutral mood. As she neared the end of the hall, she saw him relaxing on the couch. The old T.V. was playing on a sports channel. He had a beer in hand. She moved into the kitchen. “Hey, Dad.” He looked up with a slight smile on his face. (Y/N) was shocked. She couldn’t remember the last time she had seen him with any emotion on his face except anger or violence. 

“Hey.”

“I’m, uh, gonna make some dinner. Is that ok?”

“What’re you making?”

“Um…” she paused, remembering what her father liked. “Spaghetti?” The older man nodded. 

“Okay. Don’t bother making any for your brother, he’s out.” (Y/N) stood blinking as Adam turned back to the T.V. That was the most civil conversation the two had exchanged in a while.  _ Wow, _ she thought.  _ This really is a good day.  _ She could only hope that everything went fine at night.  _ Maybe I can meet up with Spider boy again.  _ She smiled at the thought.  _ He reminds me of Peter.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeehaw another chapter is up fam
> 
> Also I have an Instagram if y’all wanna follow, it’s we_didnt_start_the.fire


	4. Chapter 4

Warnings: lil bit of kind of smut (idk not really?)

Nothing happened that night, except a small incident with a man robbing a store, who (Y/N) took down quickly as Spider-Man watched. Just as (Y/N) had hoped, the resident red and blue clad hero showed up to yet again charm her with his humour and dorkiness. She had yet to see under the mask, but even without seeing him, she would admit that she was just a little attracted to him. There was something about the way he could have fun with her without even trying that she found kind of enthralling.

_ Great, _ she thought after climbing back through her window. _ Now I have two crushes over three days, it seems. Everything is happening so fast! I think, though, I still like Peter more. They’re actually really similar. _ The teen thought for a minute, then giggled. _ Maybe I should ask if they’re related. Wouldn’t that be weird? _

It was Wednesday, and (Y/N) was already hella looking forward to the weekend off. _ Just three more days. _School was boring at the moment, except Peter, MJ and Ned, and maybe the Decathlon team. On the way to school, she blasted (F/S) through her implants and walked in time to the beat. She had gotten up a little later than usual as she had been exhausted from last night. She hung out with Spider-Man until around 1.30, when she got tired and wanted to go home. The two had said goodnight and parted, leaving (Y/N) feeling confused about her feelings about the teen in the suit. During Spanish, last period, she got a text from Peter.

Dorkboy:

You free this afternoon?

(Y/N) smiled at the prospect of hanging out with Peter.

Me: 

Sure! Who else is coming?

Dorkboy:

Well actually I was just thinking you and

me if that’s ok?

Me: 

Yeah, I’m down. Where do

you wanna meet up?

Dorkboy:

May can pick us up at the front of the

school

Me:

Ok, c u there

Dorkboy:

C u soon

May picked up Peter and (Y/N) again. “Heyo! Nice to see you again, (Y/N),” She said, with a wink at Peter. (Y/N), thankfully, didn’t notice, but did see Peter narrowing his eyes at his Aunt.

“Everything ok?” Peter looked startled.

“Uh, yeah. Totally.” Once again the short car ride was full of lighthearted banter. (Y/N) couldn’t remember ever meeting an adult this nice. They pulled up to the house and clambered out of the car. The girl grinned as she stepped inside. It was a little cluttered, but ultimately warm and welcoming. She immediately felt calm.

“I’ll leave you two to it, but no funny business, okay?” May smirked at the two, who both went red.

“No, um, it’s not like that!” (Y/N) exclaimed. Peter just looked embarrassed. May left, presumably to burn something on the stove. “Right. Anyway, where’s your room?” (Y/N) asked, looking at the three doors at the end of the hall. One of them had letters saying “Peter’s room - do not disturb!” Peter looked flustered.

“Uh, no, we’re not going in there-” (Y/N) was already running towards the room.

“Too late!” She opened the door, stepping inside. Her eyes went wide at the sheer _ geek _ vibe that the room gave off. “Wow.”

“Yeah…” Peter tried to hide some Star Wars figurines.

“This is awesome! I love it!”

“You - you do?”

“Hell yeah! This place is epic! And-” (Y/N) climbed onto the top bunk. ‘You have a bunk bed!” Peter visibly relaxed, grinning.

“God, I thought you were gonna judge me so hard on that one.”

“Hey, you forget that I am also a huge geek. And besides, I’m your friend now - I wouldn’t judge you badly for the world.” Peter’s face scrunched up into a smile. The next couple hours were spent on everything from Lego to just lying there and chatting. When it was time to leave, (Y/N) hugged Peter goodbye.

It only lasted a couple seconds, but that was the total amount of time Peter took to pitch a tent in his shorts. _ Oh my god. Go away, go away, go away! _ Peter tried to will it away. It didn’t work. (Y/N) pretended not to notice, more for his benefit. _ Oh god, did I do that? _She bit her lip and tried not to laugh. Peter was so obviously flustered. She didn’t tease him, but she realised it would be an entertaining story for some point in the future.

As soon as she got home, she made dinner from the limited groceries in the cupboard. She got the feeling that something was gonna happen tonight. Not necessarily something bad, but… something.

“Cougar!” She heard her hero name being called from across the street as she crouched on a rooftop with El running a scan for illegal activity. It was only midnight, and Spider-Man was swinging towards her, and had soon slung himself onto the roof next to her.

“Hi! I’ve been looking everywhere for you! So… I have something big to tell you, and you don’t have to say yes, ok? But, um, I thought you would like what I have to tell you.”

He hesitated for a second, as if waiting for a response. “Well? What is it?”

“Well, uh, Tony Stark-”

“You know Tony Stark?”

“Um, yeah, but anyway, Mr Stark wanted me to tell you-”

“Tony Stark knows about me!?” (Y/N) shrieked.

“Let me finish!” Spider-Man exclaimed, exasperated. “Mr Stark wants to offer you an internship with him at his facility!” The girl’s jaw swung open, eyes wide, completely and utterly astonished.

“W-WHAT?!”

“I, uh, kinda told Mr Stark about you and he wants to get in touch sometime.”

“You told Mr Stark about me?!”

“Yeah… I mean, if you don’t want to, he said that’d be fine too, but-” He was cut off by (Y/N) pulling him into a tight hug.

“Oh my God. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome?” The teen replied, voice muffled by the top of (Y/N)’s head. “So… shall I tell him you said yes?”

“Hell yeah! And tell him I said thank you for the opportunity!”

“Will do!” Spider-Man laughed, and shot a web to swing away on. “See you at some point!”

“Bye!” _ Oh my god oh my god oh my god TONY STARK IS GIVING ME AN INTERNSHIP!!! This is- is it my birthday or something? This is the best day of my life! _ She couldn’t contain the happy squeal that escaped her mouth when she thought about working with Iron Man. A thought occurred to her and she covered her mouth in shock. _ Hoooooly shit. Maybe I’ll get to meet the Avengers too! How awesome would that be? _

She sprinted home with the use of her boots and jets and immediately got changed, picking up her phone and dialing Peter. He picked up after two rings. “(Y/N)? Why are you ringing me at one in the morning?”

_ Shit. _“Sorry! Did I wake you?”

“Uh… no.”

“Why were you up?” Before Peter could think of a suitable lie, she moved on. “Anyway, I just got told - actually, no, can you guess?”

“Umm… you just got told about the science assignment that’s due tomorrow?”

“No - wait, there’s a science assignment tomorrow?” She heard Peter laugh from the other end of the phone.

“Nah, I was messing with you. What is it?”

“I got an internship! With TONY FREAKING STARK!” (Y/N) dropped her voice a little in case she woke up some of her family. “Don’t you intern there too?”

“Yeah, I do!”

“Have you met Spider-Man yet? Or any of the other Avengers?”

“Yeah, I’ve met Spider-Man a couple times. He’s a pretty cool guy. Have you met him before?”

“Yeah, I have! He’s the one who told me about the internship!” Peter dropped the phone. _ Wait, what? Hold up - no way. I would remember meeting her as Spider-Man, and I know that I haven’t, so that means... she’s Cougar? (Y/N) is Cougar?! _(Y/N) was still talking on the phone, oblivious to the fact that she had just revealed her identity to Peter. “Peter? Are you there?” He picked up the phone again shakily.

“Yeah, that’s great, (Y/N)! Can we talk about this tomorrow? Aunt May is yelling at me to get off my phone.”

“Oh, yeah, sure! See you tomorrow!” Peter hung up the phone and flopped back on his bed, his mind racing a million miles a second. _ I can’t say anything about it to her as (Y/N) or Cougar, because then she’d find out that I’m Spider-Man. And I can’t tell anyone, either. I guess I’ll just have to try not to accidentally call her (Y/N) while she’s Cougar, or the other way around. _ Now that Peter thought about it, he saw a lot of similarities. The hair, the eyes, the voice… _ how did I not notice it before? _

Meanwhile, (Y/N) couldn’t sleep. She was too excited. She assumed that the Spider boy would tell her details, or give her a phone number or something. She couldn’t wait for the next night. _ I’ll have to ask Spider-Man what kinda stuff we’ll be doing. And maybe what kinda stuff Peter does too. Maybe I’ll be doing a mix of both. _ She bounced on her bed in anticipation. _ I can’t believe Tony Stark - Iron Man - is interested in me! _

It took (Y/N) and Peter each another hour to fall asleep. Peter was anxious with his new discovery, and (Y/N) was just ridiculously excited for what was to come in her foreseeable future. The girl could only imagine what was going to happen.

“Peter, are you okay? You’re being weird.” The boy looked up, startled.

“Uh, yeah, fine.”

“Riiight… well, I’ve been meaning to ask, what kind of things do you do at your internship?” The two were on their way to school and (Y/N) was interrogating Peter on Tony Stark. Peter didn’t really know how to respond to the question. _ I fight supervillains and get hero training. _ Somehow he didn’t think saying that would help keep his identity secret.

“I, um… I just work with Tony and he teaches me sciencey things, like, um, making things and stuff.”

“Like engineering?”

“Sure.” Peter was distracted, thinking about (Y/N) as Cougar. He had decided that he was fine that she hadn’t told him, and besides, they had known each other for less than a week. He was still taking measures to ensure that she didn’t find out he was Spider-Man. Maybe it would be a cool opportunity to work with her as a crime-fighting duo.

“Peter!” (Y/N)’s voice penetrated his thoughts.

“What?”

“I asked you a question! Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yeah, just… thinking.”

“Okay, well, do you have any tips to make the day go faster?” The day could not have gone slower. (Y/N) had all the boring subjects, of course - although lunch was fun. The four of them played Cards Against Humanity, which MJ brought to school ‘just in case’.

They were packing up the cards when Ned spoke up. “Jesus, (Y/N), what are you so impatient for?” Ned asked at lunch after seeing her check her watch for what seemed like the fortieth time in thirty minutes. She paused.

“Wait, seriously? Did I forget to tell you two?” (Y/N) gestured to MJ and Ned.

“Tell us what?”

“I got an internship,” she paused for effect. “With Tony Stark!”

“That’s awesome! When do you start!”

“I don’t actually know. I’m assuming Spider-Man is gonna give me some details or something tonight, which is what I’ve been waiting all day for.” (Y/N) didn’t miss the glance that Ned shot at Peter.

“You’ve met Spider-Man?” Ned asked cautiously. The female faltered.

“Y-yeah.” _ Don’t reveal anything you shouldn’t, (Y/N). _“We, um, met last night.”

“How’d you get the internship?” MJ asked curiously. _ Oh, fuck. I didn’t think about that. _She went a little pale.

“Um. Well, uh,” she blurted out the first story she could think of. “Spider-Man saw some tech I designed, and I guess he told Mr Stark about it because when I next saw him he said that Mr Stark wanted to get in touch sometime.” _ Hey, that’s actually quite a good cover story. _MJ looked a little confused, but bought the story.

“You design tech? That’s pretty cool. What kind of tech?” Peter asked, genuinely curious.

“Oh! Um, well, I made an A.I., so that’s cool I guess. I mean, it took a while to do all the coding and stuff, but it works pretty well, I think.”

“Hold up.” MJ said, raising up a hand. Ned and Peter were looking at (Y/N) in shock. “You MADE an A.I.?”

“Yeah…” Rubbing the back of her neck, the teen smiled nervously.

“Holy shit! You need to show us sometime! What does it do?”

“Well, it can tell me pretty much anything I need to know, and enhance my hearing and stuff because I built little implants for my ears. It’s called ELSI, or El for short.” She turned her head and brushed her (H/C) hair behind one ear to show the three the small black device.

“What are you, a genius or something?” Ned exclaimed. (Y/N) grinned.

“Maybe you guys can try it out some time. It’s pretty handy.”

“Yeah!” Ned breathed his agreement. MJ just looked impressed. _Maybe_ _I should start another project again. I haven’t made anything in a couple weeks. _The bell rang, and the four said goodbye to each other. _Right. Just another few hours. I can wait for another few hours. I think._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m tryna keep up with myself lmao I really wanna keep you guys interested and happy but I was gonna post every week but now it’s every couple days so I apologise if I slow up a little bit. I will try my hardest to write more faster. Also sorry this chapter’s a little short  
As always thanks for reading :)


	5. Chapter 5

Peter was swinging through the city, looking for (Y/N). _ No, I have to think of her as Cougar. I can’t make any mistakes. _Tony Stark was flying in his iron suit next to him. “Friday, please locate a sixteen year old female named (Y/N) (Y/L).” The older man said.

Peter had told him about how he found out her identity earlier that night, because he couldn’t handle having the secret on his own. He knew that he could trust Tony to keep (Y/N) safe as a superhero, and could get her mentoring discreetly. Tony was his only father figure and Peter was glad he could trust him enough to tell him anything, and was hoping to at least try and keep (Y/N) safe by getting her proper defence and offence skills. He had requested that Tony ask the Avengers to help train the other teen.

“Mr Stark? I don’t think there’s any need to do that. I see her.” Peter pointed to a girl crouched on a building, silhouetted by the moon.

“Nice work, kid.” The two landed on the roof next to her. “So, it’s (Y/N), right? Or would you prefer Cougar?” (Y/N) whirled around, nearly falling off the roof in surprise. “Sorry, kid. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“How do you know my name?” She tried to act unsurprised by the fact that Tony Stark was standing in front of her, but internally she was fangirl screaming. _ Holy shit, I didn’t expect to get to _ meet _ him tonight! _ The mask opened to reveal the famous guy known as Iron Man. He chuckled. Meanwhile, Peter was extremely relieved. _ Now it won’t matter what I call her. She won’t get suspicious. _

“I know plenty about you, kid. I know your name, where you live, who you hang out with… I have access to all of your information.” (Y/N) threw a glance to Spider-Man, hoping he wasn’t someone who saw her around school. Even better, maybe he didn’t go to her school at all. _ I mean, if Mr. Stark trusts him, maybe I can too? I guess he is a superhero. _

“Do I get to know who you are too?” She directed this at Spider-Man, who shook his head.

“No. Absolutely not.” He replied. There was a pause. “Well… maybe at some point.”

“So, anyway, what would you prefer we call you?” Mr Stark asked (Y/N).

“I think Cougar is better for when I’m… you know, saving people.”

“Good choice, kid. Now, do you want to follow us back to the facility so I can do some introductions?”

“Introductions? You mean…”

“Yeah, that’s right, kid. You get to meet the Avengers.”

_ What the actual McFuck is going on? In under a week, I’ve made new friends, met Spider-Man, developed a crush, got an _ _ internship _ _ at Stark Industries and met Iron Man, and now I’m going to meet the Avengers too? _Meanwhile, Mr. Stark was continuing. “Well. Some of them are away, but currently we have Black Widow, Captain America, Dr. Banner, Ant Man, and Hawkeye. Oh, and Thor and Loki will be arriving in two days. Pepper will be there too, of course.”

_ Jesus. I didn’t even get to meet the Avengers until around two months after I met Mr. Stark, and even then it wasn’t many of them! _Peter thought. “Okay, um, how long does it take to get there? It’s just, my jets only last for about ten minutes at a time, then they have to recharge.” (Y/N) questioned.

“You have jets?” The girl blushed a little.

“Yeah, I based them off of your suit design.”

“And you designed the suit yourself?”

“Yes, sir.”

“That’s pretty impressive. We need more people like you at Stark Towers.” Spider-Man was getting a little impatient.

“Mr. Stark, we might want to go soon. It’s 11.30.”

“Ah, good point, kid. And don’t worry-” he gestured to (Y/N), who was watching him with admiration in her eyes. “-it only takes about…” he checked his watch. “Seven minutes.” The girl smiled.

“Perfect. Yo, Spider boy, can you keep up?” Peter gasped in mock shock.

“You offend me, woman. Do you doubt my abilities?” (Y/N) laughed. Meanwhile, Tony Stark was looking between the two with a smirk, but decided not to comment. _ Maybe those two would make a pretty good pair. And not just as a superhero duo. _

“Chop chop. We haven’t got all night.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Kid, call me Tony. Or Mr. Stark.”

“Okay, Mr. Stark.” The girl fired up her jets while Peter jogged to the edge of the roof.

“Just follow me, kid. Spider-Man knows the way.” Halfway through the short flight, the full reality of her situation hit (Y/N) hard and she nearly stopped in midair. _ I’m following Tony Stark through the air while Spider-Man follows us on our way to Stark Towers. On our way to meet the Avengers. Superheroes. People who have superpowers. People who fight supervillains. _ She started to laugh at the absurdity of it all. _ If someone had told me what was about to happen to me a week ago, I would’ve got them mental help. _

She looked up, and she could see it. Stark Towers. The irregular shape, the blue light up lettering on the side, the endless numbers of windows. _ Holy shit that’s cool. _ Iron Man made a graceful landing onto the roof. _ Where’s the Spider boy? _She spun around in midair, just to nearly collide with the boy, who had used his webs to launch himself to her height.

“Watch out!” He called, laughing. He landed on the roof and stood next to Mr. Stark. The two of them watched as (Y/N) came in fast and ended in an army roll on the concrete, her suit absorbing most of the shock. Completing the roll, she stood, trying not to smirk at the way both their eyes widened. (Y/N) had been practising that move for months. “Pretty sweet way to make an entrance.” The boy in the spider suit said. Tony chuckled.

“Right. Follow me.” The man strode over to a contraption and (Y/N) watched in fascination as it removed his suit with amazing effectiveness and precision.

“Did you build that?”

“Of course.” He stepped out of the machine. His outfit underneath was a grey suit and tie. (Y/N) took in a shaky breath. “Don’t be nervous. They’re all excited to meet you.” They walked towards the door, and Peter hastened to catch up with (Y/N).

“You’ll do great. I was really nervous too, when I first met them. Except I actually knocked a drink on Black Widow, which wasn’t great, so I think if you don’t knock anything over you should be fine.” (Y/N) laughed.

“Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“I wish!”

(Y/N) groaned. “Oh god, that must’ve been the worst! How’d she react?”

“She was actually pretty nice about it. I guess she took pity on me only being 15 when it happened and being a nervous wreck.”

“How old are you now?”

Peter thought for a second before deciding that it wouldn’t really make much difference whether she knew his age or not. “I’m sixteen.”

“Same as me then.” _ I know _, Peter thought.

“Hurry up, slowpokes!” Mr. Stark was holding the door open for the two of them and they hurried to go through it. (Y/N)’s jaw dropped as she entered the top floor of the building. Everything was so… _ expensive looking, _she thought. (Y/N) knew that Tony Stark liked to showcase his money, but this exceeded her expectations. Not that she ever expected to meet him or anything, but she had pictured being inside the massive building.

The three of them walked past a glass showcase filled with tech, and (Y/N) paused at one of them. “Are these your old arc reactors?” Mr. Stark turned around.

“Yep. They go in the order in which I made them. This was my very first, the one that saved my life when this whole Iron Man thing started.” He pointed to a clunky, old looking thing attached to a car engine. “I managed to salvage it from the base that I escaped.” He looked a little nostalgic.

Meanwhile, Peter had gone ahead and jogged into the living space. The promised Avengers were sitting and talking amongst themselves quietly, and Steve looked up as Peter walked in. “Hey, Pete. Are they here?” 

“Yeah, they’re just looking at Mr. Stark’s old arc reactors. But can you guys do me a favour and just call me Spider-Man rather than Peter? She doesn’t know yet.”

“Do you know who she is?” Natasha asked. Peter hesitated.

“Yeah. She goes to my school. And she knows that I know, because she thinks I found out from Mr. Stark. But I accidentally figured it out myself.” Natasha sat back with a laugh.

“Alright, Spider-Man.” At that moment, Tony Stark and (Y/N) rounded the corner. The Avengers stood up and went to greet her. (Y/N) was shaking with nerves. Captain America was first to get to her, and towered over her. He reached out a hand, and she shook it.

“Hey. You must be (Y/N). I’m Steve.”

“Hi.” She tried to stay cool as she was introduced to all the Avengers and Pepper Potts. Finally, once she shook hands with them all and they were all seated on the couch, Mr. Stark spoke up again.

“So. I’ve had a look at the video footage on Pe-” He stopped himself. “Spider-Man’s mask.” (Y/N) glanced at Spider-Man. _ What was he going to say? _Tony picked up a remote and the large T.V. beside them switched on. “I’ve downloaded the film and watched it all.” On the screen was a shaky film as Spider-Man ran towards the alley where he first saw (Y/N). He skidded to a halt as (Y/N) landed in front of him, her back turned to the camera, unaware of it.

(Y/N) cringed at the sound of her own voice echoing through the sound system. She watched herself grab one of the men’s arms and swing him around into the other. As both the males hit the wall, the woman she was saving ran out of the alleyway, brushed past Spider-Man, and sprinted away down the street.

“Where have you been learning those moves? They’re almost flawless.” Natasha spoke up, appreciative of (Y/N)’s fighting skills.

“I took online classes. And I watched some videos of you and some of your moves.” (Y/N) flushed a little as Black Widow smiled at her. She blushed harder as the video on screen showed (Y/N) kissing the large angry man, then kicking him off her.

“Smart, catching him off guard.” Pepper said. They watched as (Y/N) pinned down both the men with web. Tony paused the T.V.

“Was that you?” He asked Peter, who shook his head.

“I didn’t do anything, Mr. Stark. It was all her.” Tony turned to (Y/N).

“What was that?”

“Well… I sort of studied Spider-Man’s suit, specifically his web shooters, and I kind of… built… an adaptation. The only thing is, I wasn’t entirely sure what the fluid was made of, so mine only lasts about two minutes before it dissolves.” There was silence.

“Tony, you didn’t tell us she was an engineering genius too.” Scott said from the couch. “What else have you made?”

“I don’t know if…” she looked to Mr. Stark for assurance.

“No, go ahead kid. I’m actually quite curious myself.”

“Well… I have my jets, which these two have already seen.” she gestured to Tony and Peter. Displaying her palms, she showed the group the small contraptions build into her gloves. “They’re also on my boots. I also have an A.I.-”

“Hang on.” Dr. Banner stopped her. “You made an A.I.? How long did it take you?”

“Around a year, I think. I took some online courses on coding and stuff. She’s called ELSI, but I call her El for short. She records audio and has access to pretty much everything on the internet, and a GPS and stuff. She helps my suit functions turn on.” Tony was impressed. _ This kid… she’s sixteen and she’s already built all this. It took me years to perfect JARVIS. _

“Anything else?”

“Um… yeah, I’ve got a couple weapons.”

“Show us.” The whole group was now invested in the girl sat in front of them, who was pulling weapons out from hidden sheaths on her body like it was an everyday thing. Spider-Man picked up a small packet of darts.

“What are these?”

“Tranquillisers. For this.” (Y/N) picked up her tranq gun.

“Where the hell did you get the gun from?” Pepper asked.

“A friend of a friend gave me the gun after it stopped working, and I adapted it to shoot darts.” Meanwhile, Natasha was admiring the knives laid out on the table. “This is my favourite.” (Y/N) picked up her taser and swung it outwards, elongating it to it’s full length and making it hum with electricity.

“Woah! Is that a taser?” Scott asked. (Y/N) smiled.

“Yep.” She did a few swipes with it in the air. _ Okay, okay, (Y/N). Stop showing off. _She retracted it again and put it back on the table. Clint was busy examining her small stun bombs.

“These remind me of my stun arrows.”

“Those are stun bombs. They work kind of similar. Explode on impact.” Clint nodded.

“Cool.” He set them back down. (Y/N) dropped her hands and sat back.

“Yeah. That’s it.”

“Pretty impressive, kid.” The Avengers all murmured agreement. “Now that we’ve seen all this, does anyone have any objections?” There was silence.

“...objections to what?” The girl asked.

“Well, (Y/N)... I suggested earlier that we could see about you getting some training. From these guys.” He gestured to the Avengers.

“Holy crap are you serious?” Trying to hold her cool was too much for (Y/N), and she began to fangirl. “That would be… that’d be incredible!” _ Holyfuckingshitholyfuckingshit Holy Fucking Shit. _She looked around at the group, stunned. They were all smiling at her.

“You’ll receive close combat training from Cap and Natasha, science study from Dr. Banner, and the others will just help with your general training. And,” Tony smiled at her and clapped his hands together, standing up. “You’ll be helping me build tech, since you’re so obviously good at it.” (Y/N) was stunned. _ This must be a dream. I’m gonna wake up soon. _ She gave herself a discrete pinch. It hurt. She didn’t wake up. _ Not a dream! _

“Mr. Stark?” Spider boy piped up from the armchair. “Can I help with anything?” Tony thought for a second.

“Maybe you can show her around the city. A GPS can’t show you everything there is to know, and besides, you’re new to the area, are you not, (Y/N)?” She nodded.

“Moved here last month, actually.”

“Right, well. It’s already 1 in the morning, so you’d best be off, right? I think Pepper wants me to get some sleep for once.”

“You know it!” Pepper called over her shoulder as she moved away.

“Okay, well, it was really nice to meet you all. And Mr. Stark, thank you so much for this opportunity!”

“You’re welcome, kid.” Tony replied as the other Avengers murmured their goodnights. “Spider-Man here can show you the way home.” Peter leapt off the chair.

“Yes, Mr. Stark!” (Y/N) smiled at his eagerness. He was pretty cute.

“Well-” Tony stepped back. “-I’ll show you out, and I trust you’ll get home safely?”

“Absolutely, Mr. Stark.” The three of them walked back to the roof, and Tony waved as the two teens stood on the edge of the roof.

“Wanna jump on three?” Peter asked her. She grinned.

“Absolutely.”

“Three, two, one!” The two jumped and went into freefall, (Y/N) laughing at the exhilaration while Spider-Man fell next to her, yelling something she couldn’t hear. She pulled out of her fall just at the right time, firing up her jets. The other teen shot out a web and swung next to her. The two continued through the city, laughing together. (Y/N) was filled with pure joy. _ This has to be the best day of my life. It really can’t get much better than this. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really sorry for not updating in a while I have exams coming up so I haven’t been able to write as much
> 
> Also sorry about the corny ending I was in the mood for a cliche when I wrote this


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, (Y/N) moved down her hallway with a new spring in her step. She went into the kitchen, only to be presented with a plate of slightly burnt toast and bacon. She looked up into the face of… Adam? Who was… smiling?  _ What the hell is this?  _ She hesitated. Adam jiggled the plate in front of her. “Are you gonna take it, or…” (Y/N) took the plate suspiciously and set it down on the table. 

“Did you want something?” 

“No! No no no. Just wanted to know, you know, what’s going on?”

“...what do you mean?”

“Uh, you know, I just wanna stay in touch. Have you, you know, got offered anything lately? Any… internships or anything?” (Y/N)’s eyes widened.

“How did you know about that?”

“I heard you on the phone. To one of your… friends.” He looked mildly disgusted at the thought of (Y/N) having friends, but quickly covered it with a sickeningly sweet smile. “Tony Stark, eh? That’s pretty… cool. Tell me, do you happen to get paid by him?” (Y/N) pushed the plate away and stood up, shaking her head.

“Oh, hell no. Hell - fucking - no. You-” she stepped forward and shoved her father on the chest, who looked taken aback. “You  do not get to suddenly take an interest in my life after shutting me out,  _ abusing me _ , when it pleases you. And you want my fucking money to spend on what? Gambling? Drinks? Drugs? The only reason you want me is to make you money, and to have someone to clean up all the messes you make! You just want someone to abuse, to blame for a death that wasn’t anyone’s fault! Well you  _ cannot  _ fucking blame me, and I would rather  _ sell my soul  _ than give you anything I earn myself!” 

She saw Adam beginning to get angry, but she couldn’t stop. She had waited so long for this moment, rehearsed it in her head, wondered what would happen over and over again. She wasn’t about to screw it up, this might be the only time she could ever do this.

“But-”

“NO! NO BUTS! I AM SO  _ FUCKING DONE  _ WITH YOUR HORRIBLE LITTLE GAMES!” (Y/N) shoved the plate off the table, scattering food on the floor. “You can clean that up yourself.” She spat, grabbed her bag, and rushed out of the house. Feeling tears stinging her eyes, she forced them back down and slammed the door behind her. She sprinted down the stairs and onto the street, blindly turning left and right. It had only just turned 6am and it was still a little dark.

After a solid five minutes of running, she slowed and skidded into an alley. Her breathing was harsh as she leaned against the bricks, and she sank down onto the firm ground and buried her head in her hands. _God. That was so… sudden. What am I going to do now?_ _I can’t go back there today. Or tomorrow, probably. But what about Caleb? _She tugged out her phone and pulled up texts, sniffing. It was cold. (Y/N) texted her little brother. 

Me:

Can you stay with some friends for

the next couple nights? You can’t

stay with Dad

Lil’ Bro

Already on it

Five minutes later, (Y/N) was seated on the edge of the roof of the tallest building she could find a way to scale without her suit. She watched as the sun rose, lighting a path through the city streets. It drew her eye to movement above the roads and sidewalks, and she watched as a small shape got closer to her, moving erratically through the air. When it was a couple hundred metres away, she realised what - or rather who - it was.  _ Spider-Man.  _

The boy in the familiar red and blue suit swung down and tossed a backpack on the roof. He sat next to (Y/N), glancing at her. “Hey, (Y/N). You alright?” She swiped a hand across her eyes and hated that it came back wet. She sighed before replying.

“I just… argued with my dad, and I’m not really sure what to do anymore. I can’t go back there, at least not for another few days.” 

“Will it really be that bad if you go home?”

“Yes.”

“Look, maybe if you just talk to him, forgive and forget…”

(Y/N) looked at him. “You don’t know my dad.” Peter paused, unsure if he was imagining what he saw in her eyes.  _ Is she scared of him?  _

“Do you wanna tell me what happened?” She shook her head. “Okay. That’s fine. Well, what are you gonna do about it?”

“I guess I’ll have to find a place to stay a couple nights. The problem is, I have some stuff at home that I need to grab.”  _ Like my suit. I guess it’ll be a little hard to get out and do my patrol if I find someone’s house to stay at, but I’m sure as hell not sleeping on the street.  _

“You know,” Spider-Man paused for a second, hesitating. “I’m sure Peter Parker would be fine with you staying awhile. You know him, right?” He observed the light blush that spread across her face at the thought of sleeping over at Peter’s place. 

“I - uh - don’t really know. We’ll see.” (Y/N) checked her phone for the time. “Shit! I’ll be late for school!”

“Wait, what time is it?”

“It’s already seven! I need to go!”

“What’s the rush? Surely you can just catch a bus or something? The school’s only, like, a twenty minute drive away.”

“Yeah, but I walk.”

“Well, do you want me to drop you off?”

“People will see.”

“I can drop you around the back.”

“Alright.” (Y/N) remembered the adrenaline rush from swinging with him through the city last time, and it brought a small smile to her face.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

“Okay, okay. But first, I think you need to eat something. Have you had breakfast?” When she shook her head, he gasped in mock astonishment. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, you know!” Giggling, (Y/N) grabbed her bag and swung it onto her shoulders. “Come on. Hop up.” He stood and helped her onto his back, stepping to the edge of the roof. “Don’t fall, please. That’d be pretty bad for my reputation, Spider-Man drops girl from twenty metres up.”

“Would you miss me?” Peter was once again glad for the mask as he blushed again.

“Absolutely.” He murmured, then jumped off the building.

(Y/N)’s stomach was left up on the roof as they dropped through the air again. She was also holding the other teen’s bag and she gripped it tight, with her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist as they swung on a thin string of fluid. “You okay?” Spider-Man yelled. 

“Yup!” A couple of minutes later, he hit the ground running around the back of a small shop. She recognised it when they walked around the front as the roof she had been standing on the night she met Spider-Man, where she took down the two men. “Remember this place?” She asked. He nodded.

“This is the place where we first met. Also,” He held open the door for her. “The best sandwich shop in all of Queens. Trust me when I say that, I’ve tested it.”

“Peter likes this place too, I think. He’s promised to take me sometime.”

“I know. I took him here on his first time.” They walked together up to the counter. “Morning, Mr. Delmar!”

“Ah! Spider-Man!” The shop owner looked nervously excited. “We don’t see you in here often. Are you buying this beautiful girl breakfast?” Delmar looked at (Y/N) with a wink and she blushed.

“Absolutely. She’s never been here before, so she’ll need special treatment.” 

“What! Never been to Delmar’s?”

“I know!” Peter turned to (Y/N). “What do you want? Get anything you like, I’ll pay.” She started to protest, but Peter stopped her. “No protesting. I’m paying, and that’s that.” 

“Alright. Thank you.” She said shyly. Considering the menu, (Y/N) chose a sandwich that sounded fitting for what she was craving. The food was handed to her and the two teens sat down together at a table outside. “So. Don’t you usually do night patrols? What brings you out in the morning?”

“Oh! Every morning I do a little warm up. It’s like my equivalent for going for a jog or a walk or something. I happened to spot you sitting up there.”

“Ah.” She nodded, tucking into her sandwich and paused in delight.

“Good?” Peter asked. She moaned in response, and he couldn’t help but feel goosebumps prickling his skin at the sound that escaped her.  _ No! Bad Peter. Don’t think like that! _

“So good.” It took her only a few minutes to devour the food. She couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten a sandwich that good. Peter watched her eat, resting his chin on a hand. 

“Ready to go?”

“I guess.” Spider-Man laughed softly. 

“Don’t wanna go to school?”

“Not really, no.”

“Well, you should go. It’s important. I can still drop you off if you want.” She sighed.

“Alright. Thanks.”

A couple minutes later, they were at the school. (Y/N) checked the time. It was only 7.43.  _ Probably could’ve stayed there a little longer.  _ “Thanks for the lift. And the sandwich!” She handed him his bag, smiling. “And for making me feel better.” Quickly stepping forward, she hugged him.  _ Don’t get a boner, don’t get a boner _ , Peter prayed. The suit would hide nothing.

“Anytime. And by the way, I wasn’t kidding about Peter. He’d be happy to let you stay.” (Y/N) nodded. 

“Yeah. I’ll ask him.”

“Okay, well-” he pointed with his thumb in a different direction. “-I should probably get going. I’ll see you around.”

“Well you might see me tonight if I can escape Peter’s place quietly enough!” She grinned, and turned around to walk away, before turning again to face him and waving. Peter watched her go with a smile.  _ Holy fuck, this girl is cute.  _ He sighed.  _ Maybe I can tell her sometime who I am.  _ Peter wondered if (Y/N) would be annoyed at him for not telling her.  _ I mean, she’d know what it’s like though, wouldn’t she? I doubt she was planning to tell me that she was Cougar for a while at least. It was a total accident that I found out.  _

He jogged around until he found a secluded alleyway to get dressed back into normal school clothes. Tossing his bag down and hitting the spider logo on his chest, Peter swiftly got dressed into jeans and a white button up shirt. His suit was shoved unceremoniously into the bottom of his bag and he strode out of the alley, swinging his backpack onto his back.

He walked into school five minutes later, so as not to arouse suspicion from (Y/N). Glancing around through the small groups of students, he saw her perched on top of a brick wall, looking at something on her phone. He jogged over to her. “What’s up?” She startled and looked up, shoving her phone into her back pocket. 

“Hey.”

“You’re here early.”

“So are you.” She smiled. “Thank god it’s Friday. I can’t wait for the weekend.” (Y/N) sighed and tilted her head back, looking up into the sky. It was sunny now, with only a few wispy clouds scattered across the void. Peter sat next to her, slinging his bag onto the ground at their feet.

“We’re still on for tomorrow, right? Study session?”

“Totally!” She paused. “So, um, there’s something I kinda wanna ask you. Like, a favour.”  _ Ah. Here it comes.  _

“Sure! What is it?” He replied, knowing full well. 

“So, I, uh… I fought with my dad. And it was, you know. Pretty bad.” Her voice dropped quieter with embarrassment. “I need a place to stay for a couple nights. I was wondering if you’d let me stay a while.” 

“Yeah, of course. I’m sure Aunt May would be happy to have you stay. Do you… do you wanna talk about it?”

“Uh… maybe later. But the thing is, I have some stuff I need to grab from home, so I’ll need to go back after school quickly.”

“Do you need help?”

“I don’t think there’s much you can do. Thanks, though.” Peter nodded.

“Alright. Hey, there’s MJ and Ned!” He waved across the campus. MJ waved back and the two of them started jogging towards Peter and (Y/N).

“Sup, fuckers?” MJ asked by way of greeting. (Y/N) grinned. 

“You’re still helping us study tomorrow, right, (Y/N)?” Ned asked hopefully. She nodded. 

“You bet! Hopefully I can catch you up to speed.” The bell rang. “Well, see you guys at break.” The four teens separated, and (Y/N) walked alone to Spanish. Not even a minute later, she heard someone walking fast slightly behind her, trying to catch up. She stopped and turned to see Flash, who caught up with her after a couple strides. 

“(Y/N). Hey.” She gave him a tight lipped smile and resumed her walking.

“Hi. Did you need something?”

“Actually, I, um… can I get your number? Just like, you know, as friends. We could hang out sometime or something.” (Y/N) paused again.

“Look, Flash. Can we get something straight? I’ll give you my number, and we can hang out and stuff, as long as we’re both extremely clear on where we stand with each other. I’m not interested in you as more than a friend, and, as you well know, I’m currently dating Peter.” She felt a little twinge of guilt from the lie. 

Flash was left to catch up, with his mouth hanging slightly open. “So you’re a bit of a dom, are you?” He muttered under his breath with a smirk. (Y/N) heard it as she hurried away, and felt a blush creep up her neck.  _ Alright. I take back what I said about giving him my number. Peter was right, he’s a total creep. _

She sat down in her seat in Spanish class, and to her utter horror, Flash walked in a minute later.  _ Fuck. I totally forgot he’s in my class.  _ He caught her eye with a hopeful grin, and she broke eye contact, making herself busy with getting out her books and pencil case.  _ Oh god, there’s a free desk next to me, isn’t there.  _ There was, and Flash sat down at it.

(Y/N) tried to ignore him, but halfway through the lesson a balled up piece of paper landed in her lap. Picking it up, she read the paper.  _ So, when am I going to get that number?  _ She sighed and glanced at Flash before writing a number down on a piece of paper.  _ 515-808-2362, call me _ . Resisting the urge to laugh, (Y/N) watched Flash give her the thumbs up and fold the paper carefully, storing it in his pocket. Little did he know that that was the number that would take him through to a line that only says “JOHN CENA”, complete with air horns and his theme song. She would’ve liked to see his face when he called it.

At interval, (Y/N) sat down next to her friends and sighed. “Flash keeps trying to get my number. I mean, I told him exactly what I feel for him, which is nothing, but he really wants it. I gave him a fake number, and told him that me and Peter are ‘dating’.” She used air quotes around the word dating. MJ and Ned looked bewildered. 

“Do tell.” MJ’s eyebrows were raised. Peter looked sheepish. 

“There really isn’t much to tell. I just saved her from going out with Flash by saying we were dating.

“Ah.” Ned turned to (Y/N). “Whatever you do, don’t date Flash. Total fuckboy.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“Wait, so. Is he harassing you?” Peter asked, with his eyebrows drawn together into a frown.

“Well, I don’t know about harassment, but it’s a little annoying, I’ll admit. I mean,” she continued hurriedly. Peter was looking like he was about to hunt down the offending teen. “I can take care of him if it gets to the harassment stage. I’m self trained in martial arts.”

“Wait, you are? That’s so badass. Can I see?” Ned looked excited. The conversation moved on, with (Y/N) showing the group a couple of defence and offence moves.

At the end of the day, (Y/N) had completely forgotten about her predicament at home. It was only when the bell had rung when she remembered. She tugged her phone out of her pocket and texted Peter.

Me:

Yo. You still all good about me 

staying over?

Dorkboy:

Totally. Where should I meet

you?   
  


Me:

Well I actually need to grab 

some stuff, can I just walk to 

your’s after I’m done?

Dorkboy:

Of course, see you later

Me:

Ye

(Y/N) switched her phone off to find that she was grinning stupidly.  _ God, what does this boy do to me?  _ She set off for her house. “El?”

“Good afternoon, (Y/N). What can I do for you?”

“Can you play (F/S), please?”

“Of course.” Her favourite song began to play and soon after, she was walking in time to the beat, mouthing the lyrics and not caring if she looked ridiculous. ELSI rotated through her favourite playlist, which (Y/N) had made specifically to fit the exact time she took to walk home.

As the last song on the playlist ended, she stood at the front yard of her building. The sleazy looking apartment building was a dark grey and blended in with the rest of the houses and the path.  _ Wow,  _ she thought, cringing.  _ I really do live in a disgusting place.  _ Walking around the back, she pinpointed her window on the fire escape and began to climb the rickety metal structure.

Halfway through her climb, she realised that she had never had to climb up the escape before. She had only ever been going down it, and when she returned from a patrol she would land on the roof and climb down to her room.  _ I was wondering why it was taking so long.  _ (Y/N) reached her bedroom window and peered inside. The door was closed. The window was, thankfully, unlocked, and she slid it up and climbed in. 

A couple of minutes later, (Y/N) had a backpack packed, her suit was on under her clothes, her mask in her bag, and she was ready to go, when she heard footsteps. Heavy ones.  _ Ohhh shit.  _ The footsteps sounded irregular and uneven.  _ He’s been drinking.  _ She scrambled under her bed and waited with bated breath as she heard Adam moving down the hallway to her room. The door burst open and her father staggered drunkenly into the room, breathing harshly. 

(Y/N) watched his booted shoes move closer to her and stop. She held her breath. The heavy weight of the older man settled above her on the bed, causing her to wrinkle her nose.  _ Is this what he does when I’m out? No wonder my bed keeps smelling like liquor.  _ There was no sound but his breathing masking (Y/N)’s. Adam’s weight shifted on the bed above her.

The two of them stayed like that for a few minutes.  _ Leave, leave, leave. Please leave.  _ That was when she heard a long, rumbling snore coming from above her.  _ Oh, hell no.  _ Silently, she slid her torso out from under the bed and peeked at her father’s face. He was facing the ceiling, letting out drawn out snores. Making a disgusted expression, (Y/N) shuffled out from under the bed and backed towards the window, which Adam had thankfully left open. Ready to run at any moment, she felt behind her for the window and got one leg out before Adam’s eyes snapped open. She froze. He sat up and spotted her. His eye began to twitch. She booked it, pushing herself off the windowsill and onto the fire escape. Her dad lunged drunkenly towards her, and (Y/N) launched herself out into empty space, 17 floors off the ground.

“(Y/N)! No!” She was tumbling through the air.  _ Was that a concerned or angry tone?  _ Adam was hanging out the window, watching her speedy descent to the ground. When she was about two floors from the concrete, she caught herself on her jets and made a smooth landing. Before she ran to Peter’s, she risked a look up to where her father was hanging open-mouthed out of the window.  _ He’s drunk. He won’t remember what he saw.  _ (Y/N) tried to convince herself, then started running. 

“El, pull up a GPS for Peter’s house. We’ve been there before.” Her voice came in short pants. “And check we aren’t being followed.” El’s voice was clear in her ear.

“We are currently being followed by your biological father. He is travelling by car. Would you like the directions to Peter Parker’s house now or in a few minutes?”  _ Fuck. _

“Soon, please.” She skidded into an alley she knew well and scaled the ladder on the side of the building, reaching the top just as she saw her father’s car speed down the road she was just on. (Y/N) saw her father’s face scanning the streets as he went past, looking for her. Her breath came out in a whoosh and she collapsed on the roof. 

“Okay, El. How do I get to Peter’s?” El began to give (Y/N) directions, who jumped from roof to roof on her way to her friend’s house. She kept an eye out for her father’s car on the streets, but she didn’t see him again by the time she was standing across the street from Peter’s house. “Alright, thanks El.”

“You’re welcome.” (Y/N) strode across the road and texted Peter. 

Me:

I’m here :)

Dorkboy:

Coming!

The door opened. Peter was standing in the doorway wearing jeans and a t-shirt. “Hey.” He said with a smile. (Y/N)’s stomach fluttered.  _ No. Stop.  _

“Hi.” She replied and Peter stepped aside to let her in, shutting the door behind her. The two took the stairs to his and Aunt May’s apartment.

“Did you get your stuff okay?” (Y/N) bit her lip with a small smile.

“I, uh… ran into a little complication on the way, but yeah, I got it.”

“Sweet. Aunt May is ordering Chinese food. Is that okay? You’re not allergic to anything, are you?” She shook her head.

“Nah. I’m all good.” They reached Peter’s floor and the door was thrown open. (Y/N) jumped as Aunt May embraced her. 

“Hi! Are you okay? It’s nice to see you again so soon!” 

“Hi, Aunt May. Yeah, I’m fine.” The young teen was ushered inside with Peter trailing behind them. 

“Peter! Be a gentleman, take her bag!” As Peter moved to take her bag, she shook her head.

“I’m fine. Thanks, though.” May was hurrying into the living room. 

“Alright. Well, (Y/N),” May smirked at the small test she had set up for the two. “You can either sleep on the couch, or in Peter’s bed with him.”

“I- what?”

“Peter’s bed. He has a bunk, remember?”

“Oh!” (Y/N) gasped. “I thought you meant… never mind.” Peter spoke up.

“I’ll take the couch, you can sleep in my room.”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll take the couch, it’s your bed.” May surreptitiously shuffled away to listen from another room. 

“Well, you’re the guest.”

“But it’s your room!”

“Okay, hang on. Have you sat on this couch? It’s lumpy as fuck.”

“Language!” May yelled from her bedroom.

“May! Stop eavesdropping!” Peter yelled back. “Alright. Why don’t we both just sleep in the bunk bed? If you aren’t comfortable with that, then I’ll sleep on the couch.”  _ Stop moving around!  _ (Y/N) commanded the butterflies in her stomach. They didn’t listen.

“Okay. Yeah, let’s do that.” May conveniently chose that moment to walk back into the room. 

“So, is it decided?”

“Yeah. I’ll take the top bunk.” (Y/N) said, and glanced at Peter.  _ Oh, they are totally into each other.  _ May thought with a smirk.

“Alright then. I won’t have to get out any sheets or anything for the couch then.” She gave a little fist pump, making (Y/N) giggle. “Let’s get you settled, huh?” The three of them moved into Peter’s room.

“Jeez, aren’t you overheating?” Peter noticed (Y/N)’s long sleeved shirt and pants. 

“You’re wearing jeans.” She commented. 

“True.” (Y/N) thrust her bag onto the top bunk and climbed up after it, sitting cross-legged on the bed.

“Alright. I’m settled.” She grinned at Peter as May nodded and left the room.

“Keep the door open!” She yelled over her shoulder, eliciting a laugh from (Y/N). Peter groaned.

“Yeah, yeah!” (Y/N) checked her phone for the time. It was 4.48. Her phone was blowing up with texts from her father, and she was glad she had left it on do not disturb. She switched it on just long enough to block Adam’s number, then turned it back off and looked at Peter, who had sat down in his desk chair and was spinning around in it.

“I might just check that I have everything real quick. If I don't, then I might need to go home and grab it, god forbid.” She began to unpack her backpack onto the bed.  _ Clothes for two days, toiletries, charger, something to sleep in… wait. Something to sleep in?  _ (Y/N) scrambled through her stuff. She had only brought jeans, long sleeved shirts, and jackets.  _ I could’ve at least brought a hoodie!  _ She fell back onto Peter’s unused pillow with a groan.

“Everything alright?” Peter asked from the bunk below. 

“Not really. I forgot some clothes to sleep in.”

“Oh! That’s fine! You can just borrow some of my clothes.”

“They might be a little big…” 

“That’s fine. I’m sure they’ll look good on you.” (Y/N) couldn’t see the blush that formed on Peter’s cheeks.

“Ok. Thanks.” (Y/N) pushed off the small ladder and landed painfully on the ground. “Owww. Groundshock.” Peter laughed, and she gave him a mock glare from the floor. “Don’t laugh! That hurt!” 

“Do you need help getting up?” He joked, moving off the bed to pick her up off the floor. Reaching out an arm which (Y/N) gripped, Peter pulled her up before moving to his dresser. A pair of sweatpants and a hoodie were tossed at her. “I’m sorry to say that the hoodie’s been worn a couple times since it was last washed, but the sweatpants are clean.”

“Cool, thanks.” She bundled up the clothes and held them close to her chest. She could smell Peter on the hoodie, and she resisted the urge to be creepy by lifting it up to her face. His scent was comforting, and she wished she could steal the hoodie to keep forever. (Y/N) settled cross legged on the end of the bottom bunk and Peter sat facing her at the other end. It was already getting dark outside, with it being winter. 

“Sooo. Do you want to play a game or something?”

“Ooh. Do you have a Monopoly set?” Peter feigned offence.

“Of course we have a Monopoly set? What do you think we are, savages?” Peter left the room and returned under a minute later with the game, frisbeeing it onto the bed. (Y/N) rolled off the bed onto the carpet and began to set out the pieces. “I’m being the (favourite monopoly piece)!” Peter’s jaw dropped.

“No way! That’s my favourite!”

“I’m the guest, remember?” She teased with a smirk. The other teen pouted.

“You got me there. I’ll be the money bag.” Nearly an hour later, the game was well underway and nobody appeared to be winning.

“Pause the game. I need the bathroom.” (Y/N) said, untangling her legs and standing. “You better not take my cash while I’m gone.” She joked, then watched as Peter, maintaining eye contact, reached over and took a wad of her Monopoly money. “Hey!” She protested, laughing. “Give that back.”

“Why should I?”

“Because I know martial arts.”

“So? You wouldn’t dare use them on me.”

“Oh, wouldn’t I?” One of (Y/N)’s eyebrows quirked and a corner of her mouth curled upwards before she lunged across the board game to tackle Peter to the floor. He yelped and toppled over with her on top, and she began to tickle him mercilessly. His adorable laugh sparked happy laughter from her too, until he was gasping for breath between laughs and begging her to stop. When (Y/N) wouldn’t let up, he reached up and began to tickle her back. She collapsed onto his chest, gasping with laughter. “Oh god, stop, stop!” 

She pushed herself up on weak arms before realising the position they were in. Peter seemed to realise in the same moment and there was a pause. (Y/N) was straddling Peter’s hips, with his hands on her waist and their faces only inches apart. A fierce blush erupted on her face, which only became more intense when she noticed the way Peter’s gaze dropped to her lips, then away, a matching red tint colouring his skin too. 

“I… um.” She stuttered, then rolled off the other teen, who looked a little shocked at himself. “Can I have my money back now, or have you still not surrendered?”  _ I can at least try to make a comeback from that.  _ Peter gave her a small smile and handed her the cash. “Don’t take any more. I actually need to pee.” She hurried from the room and into the bathroom, locking the door. Bracing herself on the ceramic sink, she stared at herself in the mirror.  _ What just happened? _

After using the toilet, she splashed her still warm face with water and gave her hair a quick brush with (presumably) Aunt May’s brush.  _ She won’t mind. _ She checked herself out in the mirror.  _ Alright.  _ She went back down the hall into Peter’s room. “I thought you got lost.” He looked up from his phone and switched it off.

“Sorry.” She laughed a little nervously. 

“So, we kind of ruined the game. I think we rolled on it at some point.” (Y/N) laughed. 

“Oops.” She sat with her back resting against Peter’s bed. A smirk formed on her face again. “Sorry about that. I didn’t know you were so ticklish.”

“Shhh. It’s a secret. Don’t tell anyone. Please.”

“What will you give me?”

“What do you want?”

“Your hoodie.” It slipped out of her mouth before she could stop herself. A small smile curled the corners of Peter’s mouth.

“Done.”

“Wait, no, I was just kidding!”

“I wasn’t. I’m pretty sure it’ll look better on you anyway.” 

“Alright then. I’ll have to try it on first, though.” The two stayed seated on the floor, talking for another 20 minutes until they were summoned by May.

“Dinner’s here!” At the mention of food, (Y/N)’s stomach growled and she scrambled up off the floor.

“Hungry, are we?” Peter’s brown eyes twinkled. Soon, the young teens were seated at the table in front of two plastic bags of Chinese food.  _ Oh my god, that smells good.  _

“You haven’t got any allergies or anything, right?” May asked. (Y/N) shook her head. 

“No, I’m good.” With that, the three of them tucked into the meal.

(Y/N) helped to clean up afterwards. May tried to sit her back down, but she insisted. “No, seriously. You’re letting me stay.”

“But you’re the guest!” May protested.

“Is that the only argument you two can come up with?” (Y/N) laughed, getting up and clearing away the dishes. 

“Well, thank you very much! Peter could learn a thing or two from you.” May nudged Peter with an elbow, who was standing up to help. 

“Hey! I help… kind of.” After the two of them had cleaned the kitchen and May had left to work in her bedroom, they walked back to Peter’s room. “You can try on my hoodie now if you want.” He asked shyly. “See if it fits.”

“Ok.”

“I’ll just grab some stuff then I can get changed in the bathroom.” Peter grabbed some clothes. (Y/N) saw a flash of pink and stopped him with an arm. 

“Hold up. Are those Hello Kitty pants?” She asked with a laugh. 

“...Yes?” Peter stuttered. 

“Oh my god, that’s so cute. I have to see you in those.”

“You will if you let me go,” came the reply. (Y/N) released his arm with a grin. “Get changed while I go. I wanna see you in my clothes.” Peter left the room with his clothes, leaving the door ajar behind him. The girl sighed and began to gingerly take off her clothes, being careful of the bruises on her body. It took her a couple minutes to remove her shirt, which was tight fitting and stuck to the cut on her back. 

Already, Peter was done getting changed, but decided to wait a little longer in the bathroom for (Y/N) to change, just in case. A little later, he decided it was safe and walked back down the hall to his room. The door was still ajar and he knocked gently on the wall. He heard nothing and pushed it open. 

(Y/N) was standing in the center of the room, wearing Peter’s sweatpants and a bra, turning the hoodie from inside out to the right way around. But that’s not why Peter gasped. Her skin was littered with bruises and small cuts, patches of green, blue, and purple cluttering her half-naked upper body. 

(Y/N) spun, dropping the clothing in surprise. “Shit, Peter, don’t you knock?” She scrambled to pick it back up, holding it to her chest in an attempt to cover herself. Peter looked shocked, and she shifted uncomfortably.

“What happened to you?” He asked in a whisper. She said nothing as the boy stepped closer to her, only swallowed thickly and looked down. “(Y/N).” She looked up and met his gaze. “What happened? Did someone do this to you?” Silence. 

Peter shook his head in disbelief and reached out to touch her, drawing back when she flinched. “Put on the hoodie, then we’re going to have a chat.” He left the room again to let her put it on, leaning back against the wall in the hallway in shock.  _ What… who would hurt her like that? It wouldn’t be self inflicted, surely.  _

(Y/N) was sitting in silence on the bottom bunk when Peter returned to the room. He sat back on the bed, turned to face her, looked her in the eye, and said, “Tell me everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey it’s me again with another update :)
> 
> So, I have exams coming up but I’m trying to keep writing at least 1k a day and so far I’m managing, which is good, anyhow hope you enjoyed


	7. Chapter 7

There was silence in Peter’s room. “It’s alright, (Y/N).” His voice was a whisper. “Start when you’re ready. You can trust me.” ((Y/N) looked undeniably cute in the hoodie, by the way.)  _ Well. He’s going to find out whether or not I tell him now or later and I suppose I’ve kind of given it away a little with the silence… I should’ve just told him that I fell down the stairs or something.  _ She took in a deep breath, folding her arms across her stomach and pulling the sleeves up to cover her hands.

“My mum died of cancer. No, don’t apologise.” She saw the look on Peter’s face. “It was nobody’s fault. It was two years ago.” A deep breath. “When she died, my dad was… understandably distraught. We all were. But then he started to drink, and when he gets drunk, he gets, you know. Violent.” Peter nodded for her to continue. “I remember when he first hit me. It was a Saturday night, around a week after she died. He had gone through a whole bottle of whisky and a couple of beers. I walked out into the kitchen to try to get him to stop, and he slapped me. Right here.” Her fingers ghosted over her right cheek, with Peter’s eyes following.

“He looked shocked when he did it, and he dropped the bottle and just kind of staggered back to his room. I guess he just didn’t like the feeling of hangovers, so he stayed drunk. For days, a didn’t see him without a drink in his hand. We didn’t talk, we didn’t look at each other. I didn’t go outside until the bruise had fully healed. We were in this sort of limbo state, pretending the other didn’t exist. My poor little brother was just stuck in this horrible house with a horrible atmosphere.” Another deep breath. “And then I guess something just clicked in his head. ‘Hey, maybe if I hurt somebody else, I won’t hurt so bad anymore’, or something like that. And he came staggering into my room one night, and threw a beer bottle at my head.” (Y/N) bit back tears. 

“So it began. At least four days a week, I would endure some form of abuse, for no apparent reason except he felt like it. I still do. I cook, and I clean, and I do everything he tells me to do, and in exchange, all I get is pain.” Her bottom lip trembled, but she continued, laying back on the bed. “A couple of weeks after he had started to hurt me, I was going to tell someone. I had a friend over one day in my room and I showed her a bruise on my arm. I thought we were alone and that I could tell her, but my dad walked in and dragged me out into the hall. He told me not to tell anyone ever, or he would start hurting my little brother. So I went back in and told my friend that I got the bruise falling down the stairs. I haven’t told anyone, ever. And it’s also why you can’t tell anyone either.” 

_ Breathe.  _ “When we fought, this morning, it was like everything that had piled up over time was coming out and I couldn’t stop it if I tried. It just really pissed me off that he thought he could just stroll back into my life like a normal parent when he pleased, when he wanted something, you know? This morning he tried to butter me up by making me breakfast and initiating a normal human conversation.”

A headache began to throb in behind her eyes. “Then I realised that he wasn’t interested in me. He only wanted to know if I was making money from my internship, so he could take it and spend it on drugs or gambling or whatever the fuck he does with it. And then I just kind of… snapped, I guess. So much anger just came out of my mouth and then I ran and he tried to follow me but I hid. And now I know that he’s hella pissed off, and God, Pete, I’m scared of him. Of what he’s gonna do to me when he sees me.”

There was an utter silence in the room. Then Peter slowly got up off the end of the bed, moved to where (Y/N) was, sat next to her, and hugged her carefully. His arms wrapped tentatively around her at first, as if asking for permission. She leaned into him, and he got fully onto the bed next to her and hugged her tighter as she buried her face in his shoulder.  _ This is nice. I can’t remember the last time anyone showed me physical affection.  _ “I hate him.” She murmured under her breath. Peter held her closer. “I hate him.” It was said with more certainty. 

She lifted her head from Peter’s shoulder and saw damp patches where her eyes were. (Y/N)’s watery eyes met with Peter’s dark brown ones as he stared her down intently. “I’m sorry. I swear to God when I see that bastard I’ll fuck him up for you. I will really and truly  _ fuck him up. _ ” His voice was a growl as he felt a rush of burning anger, and an itching desire to protect the female in front of him.  _ Why am I being so possessive?  _

“Peter… you know you can’t do that.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Well, one, depending on how bad you fuck him up, he’ll hurt Caleb. And I won’t allow that to happen. Two, you’ll probably - no, definitely - be charged for assault. And three, as much as I hate him, he’s my dad.” 

“I don’t care if I’m charged with anything. Nobody should be hurting you.  _ Nobody _ has that right, and you know it. So why do you allow it to happen?”

“Because… because I love my brother. I would rather die than see him get hurt.” She sighed, leaning her head back against Peter’s pillow. 

“Have you never even considered what would happen if you told someone about it? They could get you help before he starts to hurt your brother.” 

“You think I haven’t considered asking for help? Every day for the last two years I have been desperate to tell someone. There was one other time that I nearly did, and he hit Caleb in front of me. It was one of my teachers, and when he came around to our house to question my dad about it, he was thrown out of the house. We moved here. That was two months ago.”

“Yeah, but we can get someone, like the police, or something! It’s domestic abuse! He should be in jail!”

“Peter…”

“Yeah?”

“Can we just leave it? Please?”

“Alright.” He was hesitant to, but realised that (Y/N) was tired and saw that she didn’t want to continue the conversation. “You can sleep down here.” Peter moved off of the bed and she let out a small groan of protest. 

“Pete…”

“Mm?”

“Stay here with me. Please.” Peter paused, blinking.  _ I mean, I’m not complaining,  _ he thought.

“Okay. I’ll just…” he dragged the duvet off the top bunk, as (Y/N) was on top of his one, and lay back down next to the other teen, dragging the thick blanket over the two of them and wrapping his arms gently around her after switching off his light. (Y/N) lay her head on Peter’s chest, enjoying the comforting feeling of the rise and fall of his chest and the sound of his racing heartbeat.  _ God, what the hell am I doing? I’ve known him for less than a week and I’ve already spilled my darkest secret to him and now I’m falling asleep on him. There must be something wrong with me.  _ But for all these thoughts, (Y/N) really could not bring herself to care as she lay there, comforted by the sight, smell, and feel of Peter beside her. 

“Night, Pete.”

“Goodnight.” He whispered back. The sounds of their breaths intermingled and became one, until (Y/N)’s breathing slowed and Peter realised that she had fallen asleep. After a minute or two of making sure that she was unconscious, he spoke quietly out loud to her in the darkness. 

“I don’t know how I feel, (Y/N). I’m getting so possessive over you and that’s so totally not like me and I don’t know what the hell is going on but I think - well, I know - I like you. And maybe I probably don’t stand a chance because look at yourself,” he glanced down at the girl asleep on his chest with a small smile before continuing in a whisper. “You’re beautiful and funny and smart and everything good. And Jesus, that sounds cliche, but I swear it’s true.” He paused as (Y/N) shifted in her sleep. “God, what the hell are you doing to me?” Peter’s voice was soft with confused affection. 

(Y/N) woke up at one in the morning with one burning thought on her mind.  _ Holy fuck, I forgot about my patrol.  _ She went to look at Peter to see if he was still asleep. Peter was gone. She sat up.  _ Maybe he’s in the bathroom or something?  _ She waited a couple of minutes before getting up quietly. The window was shut. He wasn’t in the bathroom, so she wandered down the hall to the kitchen, creeping silently past May’s room. He wasn’t in the kitchen either.  _ Where the fuck did he go?  _

Checking for where she knew he left his phone last night, she saw that it was gone and picked up her own. 

Me:

Where the hell are you?

Peter received the text as he stood on top of an apartment building somewhere in Queens in his Spider suit.  _ Shit.  _ He contemplated his reply.

Dorkboy:

Just went out for a walk. Was gonna 

ask if you wanted to join but you 

looked peaceful so I left you

Me:

How long will you be gone

Peter checked the time. It was ten past one. He hadn’t come across any crime lately.

Dorkboy:

Maybe another fifteen

(Y/N) turned off her phone and switched on her earpieces.  _ I can’t do a patrol in fifteen minutes but maybe I can just see what’s going on.  _ “El.” The Windows startup sounded in her ears. 

“Good evening, (Y/N). What can I do for you?”

“Has anything happened tonight? Or is anything going to happen, do you think?” There was silence as ELSI ran her scan for a few minutes, checking over every news article put up in the last seven or so hours. 

“Judging by the fact that nothing has happened tonight except for a new celebrity scandal, the chances of criminal activity happening in the next twelve hours is low.”

“Who was the celebrity scandal with?”

“Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez.”  _ Hmm. _

“Bookmark that for me to read about later.”

“Done.”

“Alright, thanks El.”

“You’re welcome.” The comforting voice, albeit robotic replied. (Y/N) checked the time as she switched off her earpieces. She still had five minutes. She used the toilet and quickly brushed her hair and teeth. She stopped.  _ Why am I doing this? I don’t have to look good. It’s twenty past one in the morning, and it’s only Peter.  _ But some part of her made her freshen herself up enough to look presentable. Looking in the mirror, she saw the way the hoodie looked on her.  _ Oh, yes. I’ll enjoy keeping this. _

Just as (Y/N) got back into Peter’s bed and pulled the duvet back over herself, she heard the front door open and shut quietly. Peter walked back into his room to see (Y/N) sitting up with his lamp on.  _ Thank god I brought clothes to change out of. That would’ve been a disaster.  _ “Hey. Sorry about that, I didn’t think you’d wake up.” He was still wearing his Hello Kitty pants and his sweatshirt.

“You walked around in  _ that. _ ” She was looking dubiously at Peter’s outfit. He looked down at himself, seemingly unaware of his clothing. 

“...Yes?”

“Alright. Well, do you do this every night or just the nights that a girl falls asleep on your chest?”

“Hey! I said I was sorry.”

(Y/N) giggled. “Relax, I’m just teasing!” 

“Ah.” Peter climbed back into bed and lay on his back, gazing at the underside of the top bunk. “Do you want me to move up there yet?”

“Not really, no. I don’t know if anyone’s told you this before, but you’re actually pretty comfortable. Except for your abs. They’re, like, rock solid. Do you work out?” She tugged up his shirt a little.  _ Woahhh. I could grate cheese on those.  _ She paused for a second to appreciate Peter’s muscles.  _ Wait, what the fuck am I doing?  _ She pulled his shirt back down. “Sorry.” Her tired brain was making her ridiculously bold, and she didn’t fail to notice the pale pink blush that spread over Peter’s skin in the low light of his bedside lamp. 

“I mean, I exercise, but I wouldn’t call it working out…”

“I want abs like yours.” She pouted, running her fingers over her stomach under Peter’s jumper. It was flat from the fact that she ran along rooftops and fought people most nights, but nothing too defined. Peter laughed softly.

“We could try working out together sometime.”

“Sounds good,” she murmured in reply, curling back around Peter. “Can you turn off the light?”

“Mmhm.” He reached over and the light switched off with a small click. “Goodnight. Again.” She was already asleep, and Peter sighed before shutting his eyes. A few hours later when May silently peeked in to check on them, (Y/N) was being spooned by Peter and the two were absolutely dead to the world.

(Y/N) woke up on top of Peter. Fully. The two were pressed chest to chest, with one of (Y/N)’s legs between Peter’s thighs and her left leg on the side. His arms were curled loosely over her back, and her cheek was resting against his shoulder. Her face flushed hot, but Peter was thankfully still unconscious. She looked at the time on his alarm clock. It was only 6.30. (Y/N) went to roll gently off him, but he shifted in his sleep and she froze as something uncomfortably stabbed her thigh.  _ Oh, my god.  _

Peter Parker had morning wood. A small giggle escaped (Y/N)’s mouth and she tried desperately to stifle it.  _ This is so absurd.  _ She paused.  _ I mean, he is asleep, so I guess what he doesn’t know won't hurt him… _ Gently rubbing her thigh against the junction between his legs, she felt him stiffen more.  _ Oh my god. _ She tried her hardest not to laugh, biting her lip. She had no idea why she found it so amusing.  _ Wow. My maturity levels really are through the roof. _

She rolled off him for good, unlatching his arms from around her before getting up and stretching. Peter’s desk chair looked comfy, so she sat and gazed at Peter.  _ What is he gonna do? Surely he wouldn’t tell, he said I could trust him. But… what if he does?  _ The thought scared her.  _ I’ll just have to make sure that he won’t.  _ Her head tilted back to hit the top of the chair.  _ God, am I a coward? Does he think so? I’ve made a huge mistake. Maybe I should go.  _ The thought quickly killed her earlier amusement. She got up to pack her stuff back into her bag, sighing. As she turned around to get something, she glanced at the bed to see Peter sitting up and watching her. 

“Umm… good morning?”

“Are you going somewhere?” (Y/N) exhaled slowly.

“Yeah. I, uh. I was just gonna, you know.” She dropped her voice. “Go.” 

“Why?” His answer was in her eyes.  _ Oh. She’s embarrassed.  _ Peter got up to sit on the edge of the bed. “Look. If you really don’t want me to tell anyone, then I won’t. I told you that you can trust me and I’m not about to prove myself wrong. Although my opinion is that we should absolutely go to someone for help, like the police, if you feel that bad about it then we won’t, alright? 

“But,” he met (Y/N)’s gaze. “Can you please at least consider telling someone who can really help? And you shouldn’t be embarrassed. I think absolutely nothing less of you. You’re really brave to have gone through all that and not told anyone to protect someone you love. You’ve done nothing wrong and everything right by telling me, okay? He’s the one who should be ashamed.” Peter’s brown eyes maintained steady contact with (Y/N)’s (E/C) eyes. 

“But-”

“Did I fucking stutter?” Standing up, he took the bag softly from (Y/N)’s hands and placed it back on the floor. “Stay.” The word was less of a request than a command. She took in a shaky breath.

“Okay.” The corners of Peter’s lips curled into a small smile and he exhaled. 

“What do you want for breakfast?” At the mention of food, she immediately perked up. 

“Can we do pancakes?”

“Sounds good.” The two went to the kitchen. There was a note from May. ‘Gone to work. Will be back around 3 :) xx’

“Looks like we’ve got the place to ourselves.”

“Ned and MJ are coming around today, right?”

“Oh shit! Yeah, I forgot about that.”

“They don’t know I’m staying here, right?”  _ Oh my god, they would tease me mercilessly if they knew (Y/N) fell asleep on me.  _ Peter thought.

“No. Can we maybe keep it that way? We can just shove your bag under the bed or something.”

“Yeah.” She replied. Peter took out his phone and plugged it into a small set of speakers.

“You alright with 80’s and 90’s?”

“Am I? Hell yeah!” Peter grinned and began to play some of his favourites. 

“Alright. Quick tour - cutlery, bowls, plates, eggs, flour, et cetera.” He pointed to each thing in turn. 

“Got it.” They began to make breakfast, singing to Queen and other classics. (Y/N) paused to admire Peter’s singing voice as he sang along to Take On Me by A-Ha. He had an impressive range.

“Say it after me, is it better to be safe than sorry?” He spun and sang it to her, and she joined in the next verse. 

“Taaake on meeee.”

“Taaake me onnn.”

“I’ll, be, gone…”

“In a day or twoooo!” His voice cracked on the high note and the two exploded into laughter. 

“You have an amazing voice!” (Y/N)’s eyes shone with amusement. “Except for that high note.”

“Thanks, you too. We sound good together.” He blinked. “Singing, I mean.” She nodded.

“Yeah. What’s next?”

“Some Daft Punk, maybe?” Half an hour later, the two sat across from each other with a stack of perfect pancakes. Discluding the ones that got horribly burnt while they were busy singing to Bohemian Rhapsody. Laughter bubbled up again as (Y/N) imitated Peter’s voice crack. 

“Hey! Don’t mock me, alright? I was trying.” He picked his phone up off the table and checked the time. “What time should I tell the others to get here? It’s only 7.30.”

“Mm.. ten, maybe?” She stabbed three pancakes at the same time and dragged them onto her plate, dousing them in syrup. Peter followed suit and they tucked in together. The sugar was a much needed energy boost, and (Y/N) ate another three before feeling satisfied. 

“I’ve matched you pancake for pancake so far.” Peter reached for another. “Time to beat you.” This statement immediately activated her competitive side and she quirked her eyebrows. 

“I think not.” She impaled another two and rolled them up, biting into them. “Match me now, Parker.” He grinned and reached for another.

“I can eat twice what you can, (L/N).”

“Try me.” The two had both consumed nine, and she reached for another as Peter was finishing. “Catch up!” In truth she was feeling a little sick, but her stomach be damned. She was going to win. Her eyes widened as Peter smirked at her and grabbed another two. “Ah. I see how it is.” She matched his actions. 

“How many is that?” Peter was incredulous.  _ Where is it all going? Jesus Christ!  _

“Twelve.” She mumbled around her mouthful. Peter grabbed another. There were three left. 

“Alright, well, this is my twelfth.” He probably could eat more, but he enjoyed seeing (Y/N) trying her hardest to win. She grabbed two more. There was one left.

“Checkmate.” She laughed, then stacked the pancakes and bit into them. Peter pouted and grabbed the last pancake in defeat, smiling. 

“Alright. You win, I suppose. Unless you want me to make more.” (Y/N) felt a small shock of horror at the thought. If she ate any more, she was probably going to throw up or explode, and neither would be particularly great in front of Peter. 

“No, I’m all good.” Peter laughed. “Do you mind if I use your shower?”

“Yeah, go ahead. I’ll grab you a towel.” He walked to a cupboard in the hallway as (Y/N) cleared away the plates, struggling to move due to the fullness of her stomach. Peter handed her a towel. “I’ll clean up, don’t worry about it. Go shower.” She smiled.

“Alright. Thanks.” Taking the fluffy white cloth, she made her way back down the hall to the bedroom to get her stuff. Moving to the bathroom, she met her own eyes in the mirror and took a deep breath, bracing her hands on either side of the sink with one goal in mind.  _ Gotta look cute and smell like a snack. _ “Right,” she murmured to herself. “Let’s do this.” 

She stepped into the shower and in three minutes flat, her hair was washed, she shaved her legs and underarms, scrubbed her skin raw with soap, and washed her face. Shutting off the water, she stepped back out and dried herself off carefully. The concealer was opened and applied thoroughly, her hair was dried, perfume was put on, and she was dressed in black skinny jeans and Peter’s jumper with a t-shirt underneath. (Y/N) considered applying some makeup, but decided against it.  _ He sees me without it usually, he’d just be confused by it. And besides, that’s trying a little too hard.  _

Peter was had stretched out across the couch and was looking through his phone. He glanced up and smiled when (Y/N) walked in. “That was quick.”

“Yeah. Your turn.” He stood and brushed past her, grabbing her towel on the way past and tossing it into the laundry room. The shower took less than a minute to heat up as Peter stripped and stood under the water. Five minutes later, he stepped out again and groaned.  _ I forgot fresh clothes.  _ (A/N - Y’all know where this is going.) 

He dried himself off a little and wrapped his towel around his waist, opening the door to peer cautiously down the hallway. He didn’t see (Y/N), and assumed that she had traded places with him on the couch. Peter opened the door fully and walked into the hallway, turning to his room’s door - only to bump into (Y/N). She fell on her ass as both of them let out a small yelp of surprise, and Peter scrambled to keep his towel wrapped around his waist as it came slightly untucked.

“Shit!” She climbed to her feet, her eyes running quickly up Peter and meeting his eyes before a furious blush formed on her face and she spun back around. “Fancy bumping into you here.” The pun slipped out of her mouth before she could stop it, and a surprised laugh fell out from between Peter’s lips. 

“Sorry - I just need to get there.” He gestured to his room awkwardly, and slipped past her, shutting the door behind him and leaning heavily against it.  _ AaAaAhHh. Why, God? Why do this? _ (Y/N) was on the other side in the hallway. She couldn’t help but appreciate the small glance she had of Peter’s body, what with his golden skin and muscles glistening with water droplets and his damp hair… she shook her head, annoyed at herself.  _ Stop being a creep, (Y/N). It’s weird and you shouldn’t think of your best friend like that.  _

Peter stepped out of his room a couple of minutes later wearing a v-neck polo and jeans. The other teen was laying across the couch on her phone. Another blush took over her skin and she quickly broke eye contact.  _ It’s fine. These things happen.  _ “What do you wanna do?” She asked.

“I don’t really mind. What do you want to do?” (Y/N) thought for a second. She hadn’t gone outside in a while and was craving the fresh, albeit cold, winter air. The only problem was that it was raining.

“You got an umbrella?” Peter nodded, gesturing to a large black umbrella standing by the door. “Let’s go for a walk then.” She tugged him towards the door and he swiped his phone off the table, stowing it away in his back pocket. 

“Sounds like a plan. What time is it?” 

“Twenty to nine.” The two stepped out into the hallway, with (Y/N) grabbing the umbrella. Peter locked the door behind him and they waited together for the elevator to get to their level. 

He pointed to the stairs as the elevator dinged. “I’ll race you.” 

(Y/N) let out a dramatic sigh. “Must everything be a competition, Parker?” But she humoured him, and stepped into the lift as Peter took off down the stairs. Waiting patiently in the small room as it made it’s descent, she stared at herself in the mirror that was the wall. She watched the doors open behind her in the reflective surface and a second later Peter skidded into view, panting heavily. 

“Did I win?” He wheezed, his hands braced on his thighs and bent double. (Y/N) smirked and strode out of the elevator on her simple black converse.

“I’ll let you have it this time.” He looked up with a toothy grin and they walked towards the door and (Y/N) put up the umbrella. 

“After you.” Peter took the umbrella off her and held it for the two of them, the height difference between them making more room for them both to stand. “Where do you wanna walk? There’s a park just a couple of streets over.” The rain barrelled down on the plasticky material, making him hard to hear. 

“Wow. It’s raining really hard!” (Y/N) all but yelled to him and he nodded. They set off, raindrops splashing their ankles and the lower halves of their legs. She breathed in the cool air, content for the time being, happy as the rain belted down against the ground. Peter was pressed to her side as they wandered, glancing down at her slightly every now and then. “What?” She asked, as she caught him watching for the third time.

“Nothing. You’re just really cute when you smile.” Her cheeks coloured.  _ Surely he means that platonically. I can find people cute without liking them, right? ‘Cute’ doesn’t have to be a romantic term.  _ She had a small panic in her head at the sentence. “Do you wanna shelter on the playground?”

(Y/N) looked up and saw the park. “Sounds good.” They climbed a slippery ladder with wooden sides and metal rungs before clambering inside a small, bright yellow plastic tunnel with narrow sides. She laughed at the way Peter sat with his legs crossed, neck bent slightly as his head brushed the roof. He peeked out a small hole in the side as the rain drummed out a beat on the roof, and she seized the opportunity to gaze at his face, a small smile on his lips as he watched the rain. 

“You sure this walk was a good idea?” He turned back to her and met her (E/C) eyes. 

“Don’t you like the rain?”

“What I don’t like is being cold.” A shiver ran through his body, further stating his point.

“Fair enough.” 

“Aren’t you freezing?”

She shook her head. “I like winter. And besides, I’ve got your sweatshirt to wear.”

Peter angled his head to look at his sweatshirt on her. It was white, with a triangle saying ‘find x’. The X in question was circled, with the words ‘found it’. (A/N - yes I am aware that this was a t-shirt but I’m pretty sure there’s a hoodie adaptation.) Peter smiled. “I was right last night.”

“What?”

“It looks much better on you.” 

(Y/N)’s lips quirked up into a smile. “Thanks.” Peter slid around so his legs were flush against one wall with his back against the other. There was a pause as Peter made brief eye contact with (Y/N) as she watched him in the grey light filtered in through the sides of the tunnel. She tugged her phone out and rotated sideways, lying her head on his stomach and holding up the phone. “Say cheese.” She scrunched her nose up in a grin and pulled a peace sign, snapping the photo.

“Do you want to walk back yet? It’s already a quarter past nine.” 

“Okay. How long did it take for us to get here?” 

“Like twenty minutes.” (Y/N) banged her head on the plastic roof with a thump as she climbed out one side. 

“Oww.” 

Peter chuckled. “You alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, come on. I’m getting rained on.” He scrambled out and pulled the umbrella out after him, popping it up. They set off, wandering through the streets of Queens on their way back. When they were only a few minutes away from Peter’s apartment, (Y/N)’s gaze was drawn to movement inside the jeweller’s shop, which seemed to be closed. She paused, her eyebrows drawing together in confusion as she tried to make out what was going on through the fogged up display window. “Pete. Wait up.” 

Peter joined her and stood next to her side. “What is it?”

She pointed into the store, a little concerned. There seemed to be a scuffle going on inside and horror bloomed in her chest as she made out what looked like a gun being brandished. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeeyee tis I again, actually posting regularly two weeks in a row (wow). Enjoy this chapter, hope you liked it! If you did then feel free to drop a kudos or a comment because I love getting those xxx love y’all thanks for reading


	8. Chapter 8

“Peter, I have to help. Stay here.”

“Wait, what? No, (Y/N)! What if you get shot? I’ll call the police-” By the time Peter had dug his phone out of his back pocket, the girl had darted into the shop. The door, albeit having a ‘closed’ sign, was unlocked and she slipped inside, quickly surveying her surroundings. There were two people side by side kneeling on the floor, presumably the shop owners or staff. 

There were three other people in the store, two men with guns trained on the people on the floor, and a female with pink hair and a black catsuit not too far from her own who was sweeping jewellery into a large bag. She looked only slightly older than (Y/N). Fortunately, there was no bell on the door, and it shut behind her with not even a click. (Y/N) swiftly slipped behind a counter and peered around the side.

Meanwhile, Peter was sprinting as fast as he could back to his apartment.  _ Gotta keep her safe gotta keep her safe…  _ he slid onto his landing, panting hard, and shoved his key in the lock. The police were already on their way as he stripped and got into the suit in under a minute.

(Y/N) had crept silently around the counters while the female was counting her jewels and the cash in the register, and was now crouched behind the two men and the two on the floor, within reaching distance of one of the large male’s ankles. She began to reach for his leg, but the girl swivelled around to glare at the one on the floor who had spoken shakily and (Y/N) swiftly took back her arm. “Are you going to kill us?”

Pink haired girl stalked towards her. The girl on the floor couldn’t have been more than eighteen or nineteen. “I shall do with you as I please. Now shut up before I get him to shoot you.” She turned back to her money. (Y/N) was breathing quietly, but her heart rate was through the roof.  _ You can do this.  _ She grabbed one of the men’s ankles and pulled as hard as she could. He let out a shout and hit the floor face first, with both Pink Hair and the other man’s heads turning to him. 

(Y/N) was already on the move as the girl barked out a short command for the guy to get back up with an added; “Clumsy oaf.” (Y/N) scanned catsuit girl for a weapon but could see none.  _ She must rely on these two to do her dirty work, then. This’ll be easier than I thought.  _ While the criminals were preoccupied, she grabbed the other man’s ankles and hauled him off his feet. He was lighter than she inspected and hit the ground harder, his gun skittering away. She ran to grab it, exposing herself to the lawbreakers. As (Y/N) made eye contact with other girl, she let out an eerie grin with her overly large mouth and uncovered sharpened teeth. (Y/N) grimaced.

The heavier man had gotten to his feet and braced himself to shoot her, but it was too late. She already had the gun at the ready, and pointing it downwards, shot the man in the foot. He dropped the gun, screaming bloody murder.  _ That’s one dealt with. _ As (Y/N) went to turn towards the other man, she felt his arms circling her waist, lifting her up to bodily slam her onto a counter and headbutt her. “Fuck!” She yelled, dropping the gun before reaching for her taser. It wasn’t there.  _ Not wearing the suit, idiot!  _ She changed tactics and instead landed a solid punch to his face. He reeled backwards, losing his grip on her shoulders, and she fell to the floor, clutching her head.

The girl was about to run out a back door and (Y/N) struggled to get up from where she had landed on the floor.  _ Gotta stop her.  _ There was a new noise coming from behind her; sirens. She came to her senses a little more, slightly dazed by being hit so hard in the head. Blinking and trying to clear her head, she saw that the man she had shot still had his gun. He raised it, slowly, pointing it at her, and at that moment, Spider-Man landed heavily on his stomach. 

Floor man let out an ‘oof’ and dropped the gun. “Jesus, (Y/N), what the fuck are you doing? You could've been killed!” He strode angrily towards her, shooting webs at both of the men on the floor. (Y/N) stood groggily. 

“There was a woman… got away with cash and jewels.” Her words were a little slurred and she collapsed in Peter’s arms.

“Doesn’t matter. Where are you hurt?” He demanded. 

“Gotta thick headache…”

“You might have a concussion. I’ve told Peter to go home and the police are here, so you can leave them.”

“But-” 

“They’ll be taken away. Come on.” He guided her gently towards the door, swiping the two guns off the floor. A policewoman opened the door. 

“Is everyone alright in here?”

“She has a concussion.” Peter pushed (Y/N) into the woman’s arms. “I gotta go. Make sure she gets back to the apartment safely, alright?” He directed this towards the policewoman and handed her the guns, and she nodded as he gave her the address to his apartment. “Peter’s gonna be waiting for you, okay?” (Y/N) nodded blearily. 

“Got it.” She replied. Peter ran around the back of the store, checking for the woman (Y/N) had told him about.  _ She’ll be long gone.  _ He watched as (Y/N) was handed to another policeman, who began to guide her towards Peter’s apartment.  _ Right. Gotta go.  _ He shot a web towards an apartment building and swung back to his building, slipping through the window and changing back into his ‘Peter clothes’. 

There was a knock on the door. “Coming!” He shoved his Spidey suit under a pile of clothes and ran to the door.  _ Acting, Peter. Acting.  _ (Y/N) and the policeman were standing there. “Oh my god, (Y/N)! Is she hurt?”

“I was told she may have a small concussion, and to bring her to this address. You’ll have to look after her.”

“Of course. Thank you, officer. She’ll be safe here.” (Y/N) had regained enough of her sense to talk back sarcastically.

“ _ She _ can take care of herself, thanks.” She strode into Peter’s apartment. “Where did you go? I told you to stay there.”

“Spider-Man told me to go back to my apartment. Are you alright?”

“Fine, yeah. Are MJ and Ned here yet?” Peter swore.  _ I forgot about that. _

“No. Do you want me to cancel?”

“No, I said I’m fine. I just need some Panadol, please.” She sat heavily on the couch as he nodded and jogged into the bathroom, returning with painkillers and a glass of water.

“What the hell happened?” He moved into the kitchen, and grabbed her a bag of ice for her head.

(Y/N) swallowed the painkillers with difficulty and let out a small growl, shaking her head. “I let her get away.”

“Who?” Peter handed her the ice and she pressed it to her forehead.

“There was a girl wearing a black catsuit. She ran, with the money in the register and jewels. I couldn’t stop her.” (Y/N) was frustrated, and rolled her head back on her shoulders, letting it hit the couch cushions behind her. “I should’ve stopped her.”

“You did the best you could. That was incredibly brave, to single handedly take on three people, two of which were armed.”

“Thank-”

“And  _ incredibly  _ fucking stupid! What if you died, huh? Or do you just have no regard for personal safety?” The doorbell rang. Peter checked the time. “That’ll be Ned or MJ. Would you rather put this on hold and talk about it later or tell them too?”

(Y/N) replied as Peter walked to the door. “Well I think they’re gonna find out anyway, due to the bag of ice and the fact that I saw a news crew just driving past. Also the policeman said I would need to go down to the station and do an interview.” 

“Hey.” Peter let MJ in with a small smile. 

“Sup. Ned was right behind me, he’s just tying his shoelaces or something.” She stopped when she saw (Y/N) with her ice pack. “What happened to you?”

At that moment, Ned walked in. “What happened to you?” He asked. 

“She was just telling me.” Peter rolled his eyes at (Y/N). “She just single handedly tried to stop an armed robbery, and somehow didn’t get shot.” Ned and MJ’s eyes went wide.

“You  _ what? _ ”

“We were walking together because she got here early and she saw something going on in the jewellers so, like a complete  _ idiot,  _ she decided not to wait for the cops and went in herself.”

“Hey! I can protect myself, remember? The whole martial arts thing I got going on?”

“Yeah, but I doubt high kicks or whatever can protect you against gunshots.” 

“Martial arts is more than just  _ high kicks, _ Peter.” (Y/N) was starting to get a little annoyed by Peter’s lack of faith in her abilities.

“Hold up. Did someone get shot? What the hell happened?” Ned butted into the debate. 

“I mean, someone got shot, but it wasn’t me.” 

Peter threw up his hands. “Who the fuck got shot?”

“I shot one of the guys in the foot. It was self defence though, I swear. He’ll be fine.”

“You  _ shot  _ a guy?” MJ exclaimed, impressed. “Why do you even know how to use a gun?”

“Not relevant.”

“How did you take down two fully grown men?” Ned wanted to know. “Teach me your secret superhero ways.” The comment hit a little too close for (Y/N)’s liking, and Peter noticed how she stiffened at Ned’s innocent remark.

“Martial arts. How many times do I have to tell you guys?”

“Did they have a leader?”

“Yeah, actually. I think so. There was a girl, around my age. She had bright pink hair and her teeth were sharpened, and her mouth was real big, which was a little creepy.”

Peter’s interest was piqued by the new information about the girl’s strange appearance. “New supervillain, maybe? Did she have any powers?” 

“Not that I saw her use. Anyway, can you guys stop with the interrogation? My head already really fucking hurts, and this is just making it worse.”

“What happened to your head?”

“Headbutted by one of the guys.”

“Did you still wanna teach us algebra?”

“Yeah, just… not now, maybe.”

“Well, I doubt any of us were realistically gonna get much done today anyway, so that’s fine.” Ned said. “Can you tell us what happened? If you’re up to it?”

“Yeah, alright. As long as you don’t interrupt.” The other three nodded their agreement and she began. 

Ten minutes later, she had finished telling them, and had made Peter tell his side of the story too. He really hated to lie, but it was necessary for the situation. “Sorry for leaving you alone, but Spider-Man told me he’d send you back here safely, and I trust him.” 

“It’s fine. I had it handled.” (Y/N) sighed. “I just wish I hadn’t let the girl get away with the stuff. I could’ve stopped her.”

“Well if you hadn’t going in there, two other people might have died. So as far as I’m concerned, you’re a hero.” MJ’s voice was monotone, but she was impressed by (Y/N)’s skill set.  _ Maybe she could train me or something. Martial arts would actually be pretty fun to learn. _ (Y/N) smiled bashfully. 

“But anyway, what do you guys wanna do? Or do you want to get straight into the maths?” She asked. Ned groaned. 

“God, I forgot about the maths.”

“Isn’t maths the whole reason we organised this?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t think we were actually gonna get much done until later.”

“...Right.”

“We should play uno.” (Y/N) suggested with a sly smirk. She was secretly a goddess at the card game, even though it was mostly a game of luck. She hadn’t played anyone in years. She had yet to find someone willing to play. “If you have it.”

“Yeah, we have it.” Peter stood up and went to his games cupboard, pulling out a pack. When he was gone, Ned turned to (Y/N).

“Isn’t that Peter’s jumper?” MJ raised an eyebrow too. Before (Y/N) could reply, Peter put on some music and came back to the group, shuffling and dealing the deck of cards. They began to play, talking lightly back and forth as (Y/N) consistently won game after game. 

After half an hour, Ned threw his cards down. “Alright, this is rigged, (Y/N). Have you got +4 cards stacked up your sleeve or something? That’s the…” he checked the score, counting. “Fourteenth game you’ve won in a row.”

“Just lucky, I guess. Or maybe it’s just my god-like aura helping me out.” She saw the strange expressions on their faces and laughed. “What? Do I not give off a goddess kind of vibe?” 

“Ninja, maybe. Goddess, no.” (Y/N) fake pouted at MJ before standing up and executing a perfect backflip to a chorus of impressed sounds.

“How about now?” The jumper had ridden up, exposing her stomach, and she tugged it down quickly.

“Still more ninja than goddess. Sorry.”

“Aw.” 

Ned spoke up. “Is your stomach okay? How’d you get the bruise?” (Y/N) shot a warning glance to Peter, who had met her eyes. 

“Ran into a table.” Her answer was a little too quick and harsh sounding, and she softened her voice a little. “I’m a klutz, I know.” Ned grimaced but bought the story. 

“Ouch.”

Peter muttered something under his breath, something along the lines of ‘Did you now?’ (Y/N) heard it and glared at him.  _ I just wish that she would tell somebody. I get that she doesn’t really trust anyone but herself to keep her brother safe, but I don’t think she realises that she could be safe too, if she just told somebody who could do something? I mean… I suppose I could do something. What if I told Mr. Stark? What would he do?  _

Meanwhile, although (Y/N) looked relaxed on the outside, she was stressing.  _ What happens when I get interviewed? What if my dad sees it? He’s already angry enough, and once I’ve talked to the police, he might get suspicious that I told them more than I should’ve… when am I going to go home? I don’t know when he’ll stop being mad… what if he comes searching for me? What if he finds me? Oh god, what if he finds me today? _

“Earth to (Y/N)!” MJ was waving her hand back and forth in front of (Y/N)’s face. She blinked. 

“Hi?”

“Can we have some help with the maths now? If we’re done with the board games?” MJ and Ned had gotten their books out of their bags and set them on the floor. Peter was down the hall, getting his maths books and (Y/N)’s bag of school books. 

“Yeah, sure. Who wants to go first with a problem?” 

“Yeah, I’ve got a lot of questions. First off, how do you do algebra?”

(Y/N) spent the best part of four solid hours in a study session with the other three, making jokes and taking frequent breaks but ultimately getting plenty done. Halfway through, MJ pulled her bag towards her and tugged out three packets of sweets, throwing them on the floor. “Feast.” She commanded. They were happy to oblige, and the food was quickly obliterated. 

At 3.30, May unlocked the front door. “Hey hey! What’s up, everyone?” Her eyebrows raised at the mess of stationary, books, and sweet packets on the floor. “Have you had lunch?” The four of them exchanged glances.

“...No.” Peter said. May rolled her eyes. 

“Y’all need sustenance! Aren’t you hungry?” She paused just as MJ had done when she saw the new bruise blossoming on (Y/N)’s forehead. “Oh, honey! What happened?” (Y/N) shook her head, embarrassed by the attention. 

“There was a robbery. She stopped two people from getting killed with her ninja skills.” Ned told May appreciatively. (Y/N) stuttered.

“I, I mean, I doubt they were going to be killed in the first place, and-” her voice was drowned out by May’s screeching of possessive rage.

“You whAT?”

“I, uh-”

“What - why - I already have enough to worry about with Peter, and now I have to worry about you getting killed too?”  _ Ah. It seems (Y/N) has been adopted into the family already, _ Peter thought. MJ and Ned sat in amused silence as May began stressing out.

“Sorry, May, but-”

“Hey hey hey, you’re staying here, so I’m responsible for you, alright? You can’t go nearly killing yourself left right and center.” She wrapped (Y/N) in a hug. (Y/N) blinked.  _ Okaaay.  _ May left to do some work in her room, after telling (Y/N) that she would be hearing more later. 

“What did she mean by ‘you’re staying here’?” MJ, always the observant one, had her eyebrows drawn together in a puzzled frown. 

“I… um.” Luckily, Peter butted in.

“Her dad is… sick, so he’s currently at the hospital, right, (Y/N)? She needed a place to stay.” (Y/N) made eye contact with Peter with a small smile.  _ Thanks.  _ He nodded in response. MJ and Ned were also exchanging glances, smiles on both of their faces. 

“So, what’s the sleeping arrangement?”

“I- what?”

“Where are you sleeping? It doesn’t look like you’ve been on the couch.” Twin blushes coloured both Peter and (Y/N)’s faces when they separately recalled the events of last night.

“Peter has a bunk bed. I’m sleeping on the top.” Ned and MJ seemed disappointed, but thankfully didn’t pick up on the fact that they were missing a whole lot of tea. 

That was when May helpfully popped her head around the corner with a happy; “I beg to differ!” Instantly, MJ and Ned’s heads whipped around to the other two, who’s faces had gone similar shades of bright red.  _ What did she see? _

“Details. What’s going on?” MJ had a triumphant smirk planted on her face.

“There’s honestly nothing to tell.”

“I will summon May, because she obviously knows something,” Ned threatened.

“Okay, okay, don’t summon May. She’ll exaggerate everything, whatever she saw. All that happened is that I fell asleep in Peter’s bed. That’s it.”

“Was Peter also asleep in the bed?”

“Yes. Happy? She fell asleep on me. That’s it. That’s all. We were both tired.”

“God, can’t you just let us ship it yet?” Ned complained. Peter put his face in his hands. 

“Please, just stop. For the love of all things holy.”

(Y/N) put her hand in the air. “I second that.”

“Well, thanks for the maths help. And the new deets. But I should probably get going. Leave you two lovebirds alone.” MJ stood with a pointed look at Ned.

(Y/N) groaned. “Quit playing matchmakers, guys. It’s getting real old, real fast.” Ned looked at his phone, and stood up quickly.

“Oh crap, I actually have to get home. Got some family coming around soonish.” 

After the two left, Peter and (Y/N) were left. “Shit. I still have to leave a statement for the police.”

“Do you want me to come with you? I can wait outside or something. Moral support.” She nodded, and Peter notified May. Both teens decided to ignore the constant remarks MJ and Ned were making at risk of making the rest of their time awkward. “What are you gonna say?” Peter asked as they walked down the stairs. 

“...The truth? What else would I tell them?”

“No, I mean, like, do you have a statement ready to say?”

“Should I? Do I need one?”

“Not necessarily, just something I would do because I’m socially awkward and wouldn’t know where to start if I were you.”

“Oh. You’re right, I probably should rehearse my statement.” By the time they got to the station, Peter had given her tips on talking to the police (how Peter knew tips like that, (Y/N) didn’t know, but decided not to question it) and had told her not to leave anything out. (Y/N) was unsure if she read into his words a little too much, but she sensed some kind of deeper meaning. 

“I mean, this might be your only chance to talk to the police in the next little while, so make sure you don’t miss anything important.” 

She sighed, stopping and turning to him. “Peter, I get what you’re trying to make me do. But you have to understand that I want to keep the people I love safe, and I can’t do that if I run around telling everyone all my family drama.” Peter was quiet. “Thank you for trying to look out for me, though. I get where you’re coming from, but you said I could trust you and I don’t want you to prove yourself wrong.”

“Okay.” Peter was hoping she might change her mind while she was actually talking to the police, but she seemed totally set on the idea that she needed to keep her brother safe. He didn’t really understand her logic behind it. He tugged open the door roughly and waited for her to go in, shutting the door after them. It was relatively quiet in the station, and they sat in a waiting area. There were desks laid out in the working space, with a couple of people silently typing away and consuming large volumes of coffee, judging by the cups strewn all over the place. A woman in uniform walked up to them.

“Hi there! Can I help you with anything?” She seemed overly friendly, and possibly new to the job. 

“Yeah. I’m here to leave a statement about a robbery that occurred at the jewellers earlier today. A policeman told me I could come down whenever.” Recognition bloomed on the lady’s face and she nodded.

“Right this way. If it’s all the same to you, would you mind waiting here?” She gave Peter a quick once over. Peter looked at (Y/N), a question on his face, and she nodded reassuringly.

“Yeah, that’s fine. See you soon.”

“Yeah.” She was ushered down a hallway into an enclosed, small room where a man sat with a tape recorder by his side. There was a welcoming smile on his face, so she didn’t feel like she had done anything wrong in the serious environment. (Y/N) studied his face. He seemed a little familiar.

“Have a seat.” The door shut behind her, and she took a seat opposite from the man. “Alright. You’re (Y/N), correct?” She nodded. “And you received a concussion from the incident today? How are you feeling?”

“Fine. Good enough to remember everything. Would you mind telling me how much was stolen?”

“Nearly three million dollars worth of jewellery. So you can understand why we want to catch this person, particularly as there have been other similar incidents occurring around the area.” The amount of money took her breath away.  _ God damn it! I could have stopped her! _

“Of course.” The next hour or so consisted of the man asking her a series of questions, giving detailed descriptions on everything that happened and how the girl looked, and also some personal questions like whether she learned the martial arts to defend herself against anyone in particular. She did her best to answer them without giving too much away about herself. She never lied, but just slightly avoided the details.  _ Is this normal? Such personal questions?  _

The whole ordeal seemed a little bit off. The man, nice as he was, seemed to be angling towards something in particular that didn’t seem to be particularly related to the case. _ Have they been notified about my family or something? It kind of seems a little personal.  _ She booked the man’s face in her head. (Y/N) left the room with a frown on her face. Peter was still waiting in the chair, and stood up when he saw her. “How’d it go?”

“It went okay. Can we go now?”

“Sure. Are you okay?”

“...Yeah. Fine.” Peter decided not to pursue it, and opened the door for her. She shivered as the cold late afternoon air hit her skin. “Thanks for waiting. Sorry if it was a little boring.”

“It’s fine. I went for a short walk around the block while you were in there.” The walk back to Peter’s apartment building only took five minutes. It was nearly 5.00, and already getting dark.  _ Shit. I’m gonna need to do a patrol tonight. I already forgot to last night. Spider-Man was probably wondering where I was. _

“Do you know if May already has dinner on the go? We could cook together again.” They were walking up the stairs.

“I’ll ask her. What were you thinking of making?”

“Umm… spag bol?” Peter’s smile lit up his face and made (Y/N) smile too.

“I love spag bol! I haven’t had it in…” He paused for a minute, thinking. “Around two years.”

(Y/N) gaped. “What?”

“Well. Good spag bol, you know? May tried to make it a few months ago but… you know. May’s not the best at cooking.”

“You should cook more often. From what I saw this morning, you’re pretty good at it.”

“Well I had you there. And I don’t really have time. Gotta study and stuff. Stark internship, too.” (Y/N) nodded. 

“Yeah, I get it. Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask. How often do you do the internship? I met Mr. Stark the other day, but he didn’t actually tell me much information about it, you know?”

“Oh yeah. He was a little flaky when I first met him too. You’ll work out a schedule soon enough. I personally work with him every one or two weeks but you might be doing it more or less, depending on what you’re doing. Do you have his number?”

“No. Should I?”

“Oh. He probably forgot to give it to you, but it’s fine. He’ll get your number somehow.” They reached Peter’s floor and went in. There was a burnt smell lingering in the air and smoke in the kitchen. Music was playing through the small speaker and May was standing in the middle of a scene of carnage in the kitchen, humming happily as she tried to flap away the smoke with a tea towel. 

“That turkey meatloaf recipe was a disaster!” She laughed. “Let’s go out to dinner.”

“Actually, (Y/N) and I were thinking of cooking tonight, if that's alright?” May smiled.

“Well, that’s a pleasant surprise! You’re really learning some good stuff off (Y/N).” Peter coloured. “What are you making?”

“Spaghetti bolognese. The one you tried to make a couple of months ago.”

“Oh, you mean the one where I nearly burnt down the kitchen?” (Y/N)’s eyes were watering from the acrid smell coming from the oven.

“How long did you leave it in there?” She choked. May laughed again. 

“Too long. Do you want me to clean up or can you guys do it?”

“You. Please.” Peter said, as (Y/N) said “We can do it.” at the same time.

“Alright.” May smiled at (Y/N) and waltzed out of the kitchen. “Thanks, guys. It’s all yours. Have fun.” Peter rolled his eyes, sighing, and they set to work cleaning the kitchen. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhhh it’s mock exam week fml


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry I forgot to warn y’all I was going on holiday but I’m back now so I should hopefully be able to keep updating :) as always thanks for reading and enjoy this chapter

(Y/N) set the plates on the table with a smile. “Dinner is served.” May sat at the head of the table with a smile on her face.

“Well, this is nice. Having dinner cooked for me for once. Hey,” she paused, tapping (Y/N) on the arm as she went back to the kitchen. “Feel free to stay whenever, alright hun?” 

“I might take you up on that. I’ve never had so much fun cooking food.” The meal had taken two hours to prepare, including about an hour of Peter and (Y/N) attempting to clean the kitchen. Scrubbing turkey meatloaf off the floor of the oven was surprisingly hard work. Peter sat down with his plate as (Y/N) grabbed a glass of water. 

“So. Care to tell me what happened today?” May paused, then a corner of her mouth turned upwards in a sly smirk. “And last night?” (Y/N) looked down at her food, taking her time chewing her mouthful.  _ Ah shit. Here we go again.  _ Peter rolled his eyes, trying not to blush again.  _ Oh god. Not another matchmaker,  _ he thought. 

It took the duration of the meal to tell the story for about the third time that day. When she stopped talking, she hoped May had forgotten about asking what happened last night. But fate was not on her side. “Right. Now for the juicy stuff.” May gave a devilish grin. (Y/N) groaned. A thought occurred to May and she paused, chewing on her lip. “I hoped I wouldn’t have to ask this early, but you guys are using protection, right?”

Both (Y/N) and Peter’s faces went fifty shades of red and they fell into stuttering messes. “God, no!” May looked concerned.

“No, you aren’t using protection?”

“No no no, we aren’t having-” Peter’s voice dropped a little. “Sex. We aren’t having sex. She just fell asleep on me last night.” May’s eyebrows raised in surprise and embarrassment.

“Oh! Oh. You aren’t. That’s good. I mean, feel free to, but, like, it’s good that you aren’t, you know. Getting pregnant. Or STDs. And when I said feel free to have sex, just, like, use protection. You know. Condoms. Something.” She cleared her throat. “I’m gonna, um. Go clean up.” May stood and quickly went into the kitchen with her plate.

“Why does everyone think we’re together?” Peter groaned into his hands. (Y/N) glanced at him and giggled. 

“Even your ears are red.” He buried his head in his arms. 

“Sorry about her.” He mumbled.

“It’s alright. She means well. Plus she said I could stay whenever, so that’s a bonus.”

“She did?”

“Yeah. Is that okay? Only when I need to.”

“Of course, yeah.” (Y/N)’s eyes glittered as she shot a dazzling smile at Peter. He gazed into her (E/C) eyes and smiled back. 

“Oh, yeah, I meant to ask. Can you leave the window open tonight? It was a little hot last night.”  _ Hmm. I wonder why, _ Peter thought sarcastically, but nodded.

“Sure.”  _ I’ll have to go after she does. I’ll just pretend to be asleep.  _ They went back to Peter’s room and (Y/N) grabbed her backpack. 

“I’m just gonna get changed.” She slipped away to the bathroom, where she put on her suit under Peter’s jumper and sweatpants. She came back into the bedroom to see Peter lying on his bed, reading. “What’s the book?”

“Hunger Games. You read it?”

“Yeah, but I haven’t seen the movies. Are they any good?” 

Peter raised his eyebrows. “You haven’t seen the Hunger Games. Dude, you’re totally missing out. Do you want to watch one tonight? It’s only 7.30.” (Y/N) frowned. 

“Actually, I was thinking of working on my English assignment for a little. Rain check?”

Peter nodded. “Yeah, sure. But we need to see it together sometime. It’s probably one of the best movie series I’ve ever seen. Besides Star Wars, of course.”

“Of course. Star Wars trumps all.”

“Ah. I see you are a woman of my own tastes.” Peter joked. “Wait, what English assignment was it?”

“The Hamlet essay? Haven’t you done it?!” Peter pulled a face and bit his lip. 

“Actually, I don’t think I have. When’s it due?”

“In three weeks.”

“Hey, we have plenty of time! Why do it now?”

“I just prefer to get things done early. Don’t you?” Peter shook his head. 

“Not really.” (Y/N) climbed onto the top bunk and tugged out her laptop. The two worked and read in silence for around an hour and a half, before she shut her computer with a snap.

“Right. I’ve done half, that should be enough.”

“That was quick.”

“Yeah.” She shoved the device back in her bag and climbed down the ladder, stretching. Peter didn’t comment on the way the jumper rode up and exposed her suit underneath, instead opting to put down his book and roll over, yawning. 

“Ready for lights out?” (Y/N) nodded, clambering back up the ladder. The mask of her suit was stuffed in the pockets of the hoodie, and she took it out and clutched it as Peter turned the light off. “Night.”

“Night.” But both the teens stayed awake. Peter saw the blue light above him switch on periodically as (Y/N) continually checked the time. Finally, at around 11, Peter heard her shifting above him. Her face appeared upside down next to him, peering at him from the top bunk. He quickly shut his eyes and pretending to be asleep, keeping his breathing even as she stared at him cautiously for a good minute. 

_ Alright. He’s asleep.  _ She quietly climbed back down the short ladder and stepped down onto the carpet with a soft noise. Her eyes were kept trained on Peter as she quickly stripped off his sweatpants and the jumper and tossed them back onto the top bunk. Peter watched with half lidded eyes as she tugged on the mask and evaluated the window. He hadn’t opened it quite enough, and (Y/N) contemplated it.

_ It wasn’t too loud to open, I think.  _ She tugged it upwards gently, only a few centimeters. Sticking a leg through, she straddled the windowsill for a moment as she slid her torso through. Clutching a drainpipe that she thoroughly hoped was very attached to the wall, she slipped her other leg through and was free. Peter watched her silhouetted form scale the drainpipe, moving upwards and out of sight. 

He waited five or so minutes before quietly getting up himself and slipping on his suit, climbing out the window as (Y/N) had done and using his sticky hands and feet to scale the wall to the roof.  _ Now to locate her.  _ He shot a web at a neighbouring building and slung into the city. 

(Y/N) was crouched on top of a building a couple streets away, looking for the red and blue suited boy to come swinging her way. “Hey, El. How’s it going?”

“Good, (Y/N). How are you?”

“Pretty good. Can you run a quick scan?”

“Sure thing.” (Y/N) turned her head towards movement at her level, and saw a familiar figure slinging through the air towards her. 

“Hey, Spider boy.”

“It’s Spider-Man.”

“Same diff.”

“What’s been going on?”

“Nothing much. I did what you suggested. I’m staying at Peter’s.”

“Oh, good! How are you finding it?”

“It’s really nice. Pete’s really sweet, although he can be a little bit pushy about some personal things.” The eyes on the suit widened, and Peter was about to apologise before he stopped himself.

“Oh. I can ask him to stop, if you’d like.”

“No, it’s fine. Apart from that, I really like him. I’m glad he’s my friend.”

“You- you like him?” Through the small slit in the mask for her eyes, Peter saw the tops of her cheeks darken a little. 

“Um. You know. I, uh-” 

ELSI spoke up. “Criminal activity has been detected. Pandora’s jewellers. The police have not yet been alerted.”

“Shit.”

“What?”

“The jewellers. Let’s go.” She took a running jump off the side of the roof.

“Wait, wha- alright?” Spider-Man followed her off of the roof.  _ Damn it. So close.  _

When the two arrived at the jewellers via rooftop, (Y/N) immediately recognised the bubblegum pink hair and the catsuit. The vantage point on a roof across the street showed that the girl had three new cronies with her, who were sweeping out the showcases, lit up by the glare of wide beamed torches. “It’s her.” She breathed.

“Who?”

“The girl. When I fought the two guys and got a concussion earlier today. She was there.”

“Oh. Then let’s get her.” (Y/N) rolled her eyes.

“Duh. Why do you think we’re here?” She jumped off the roof and rolled. Spidey landed beside her with a soft thump. Together they strode across the road. Immediately, she tugged open the door with a scowl. “We’re here to join the party!” She announced loudly. All four of the criminals turned. The men’s faces remained blank, but the girl’s lit up in a smile from ear to ear. Literally. The corners of her mouth widened from one side of her face to the other, exposing two rows of perfect sharp teeth. (Y/N) looked disgruntled, and before she could do anything, the girl spoke up.

“Ah. I was wondering when you would turn up.” She made a gesture over her shoulder and the three men continued sweeping jewels into bags. Peter frowned.

“Who are you?” He asked. 

“Hmm. I haven’t actually taken that into consideration. Wanna help me pick a villain name?” She seemed genuinely excited at the thought, putting her hands on her hips and drawing her eyebrows together, thinking carefully. (Y/N) and Peter weren’t quite sure not to make of the girl and looked at each other. “Chaos? No, too… cliche. What about Solstice?” She frowned. “No… it doesn’t really fit with my vibe. Oh! I know.” Her creepy grin returned to her face slowly. “Ecstasy.”

“Is that what you’re on or something?” Ecstasy gave a childish laugh of delight, clapping her hands. 

“No, unfortunately. But we should do it together sometime. Wouldn’t that be fun?” Both Peter and (Y/N) were taken aback. “Anyway. Before we do that, I gotta bounce.” The three men had cleared the store while Spider-Man and Cougar were distracted. “Unless you’re gonna try and stop me. In which case we can try and fight, if you want.”

“Well. It’s kind of our civic duty to stop you, isn’t it? Being heroes and such.” Peter commented, before shooting a web at Ecstasy. She dodged it easily, becoming a blur as she crossed the store, travelling from the left of them to the right in the blink of an eye.

“Ta da.” She displayed jazz hands. 

“Shit. Great,” (Y/N) threw up her hands, turning to Spider-Man. “She’s fast too.” She turned back to Ecstasy. “Are you sure you aren’t on drugs?”

“Hey, you haven’t even seen my favourite part. Ready?” Slowly, theatrically, she opened her mouth. But it just… kept opening. Peter and (Y/N) exchanged horrified glances as her jaw fully unhinged, dangling loosely at her neck. She held a hand out, and one of her guys handed her the cash register.  _ What…  _ Ecstasy closer her jaw on it, taking a large (and I mean large… like reeaaal big) bite out of the metal. Maintaining eye contact, she chewed slowly and swallowed. (Y/N)’s face screwed up in a grimace. “See? Isn’t that cool?” She bounced up and down on the balls of her feet like a little kid, smiling wide, her eyes gleaming with excitement. 

“Yeah… well, anyhow. Still up for that fight?”  _ She doesn’t seem like the person who would back down.  _

“Of course! But-” she pointed to the door. “No running away until I’m done with you, alright? If you still can run.” She tilted her head, contemplating the two teens in front of her. 

“Agreed. Same goes for you.” Ecstasy nodded brightly, waving her hand. The three men walked into a corner of the room and stood, watching. 

Peter leaned down and whispered into (Y/N)’s ear. “The police are here.” Sure enough, (Y/N) noticed for the first time the flashing red and blue lights lighting up the store like a disco. 

“Oh, and if you wanna fight me, call your buddies outside off.” 

“They won’t come in.”

“If they do, my three will snap all of their necks. Got it?” As if to prove her point, the three silent men all cracked their knuckles in unison. To (Y/N), they looked perfectly capable of killing multiple people and she shivered.

“Let’s do this.” (Y/N) rolled her shoulders and took out her taser. Although it would be seemingly easy for both her and Spidey to take on Ecstasy at the same time, she found it was best to never underestimate any of her opponents.  _ Plus, this is my first fight with a… supervillain.  _

“Oh! Wait! Before we start, let me play some music.” She aimed a finger gun at one of the men, who took out three speakers and put them at different corners of the room.  _ We really should just get on with it,  _ (Y/N) thought, exchanging glances with Spider-Man as Ecstasy tugged out her phone and began scrolling through a music app. Spider-Man nodded at (Y/N), and silently counted down from three in his head before shooting a web to the opposite wall and pulling himself feet first through the air straight towards Ecstasy. 

Without looking up from her phone, she sidestepped easily with a giggle and he hit the wall with a loud noise. A large crack appeared in the wall. “Hey, wait for me. I know you’re eager but I gotta get the right music. Oh! How about some Beastie Boys?” She looked up to see (Y/N) running towards her, taser activated. “Alright. I’ll take that as a yes.” As (Y/N) ran, she felt a slight breeze, and Ecstasy was gone from in front of her. ‘Fight For Your Right’ began to play.  _ Ah. A girl of my own tastes.  _ She repeated Peter’s earlier statement in her head. 

She continued running to the closest wall, pinpointing where Ecstasy was in the store and firing up her jets before kicking off a point about a metre up the wall, launching back towards her. At the same time, Spider-Man was behind her and she jumped easily over the leg he swept under her in an attempt to knock her to the floor. She turned into a blur, moving out from between them, and (Y/N) pulled out of her course just in time to narrowly avoid tackling Spider-Man. 

Ecstasy was standing on the other side of the store. Again.  _ God. This is annoying. _ “Come on, guys.” A cocky grin covered the lower half of her face and she crooked her finger. “I don’t bite.” Her grin turned into a smirk. “Or maybe I do.” She did a little spin in time to the music and began to sing along in a high, childish voice that did not at all suit the song. “ _ You wake up late for school and you don’t wanna go _ !”

“God, I fucking hate this!” (Y/N) yelled to Spider-Man over the ear shatteringly loud music. The lights from the police cars were giving her a headache. More police were probably being called about noise complaints now, and they would all see her and Spider-Man getting their asses kicked buy a girl who couldn’t have been much older than them.

“What?” He yelled back. The whole scene gave off a kind of nightclub vibe, and (Y/N) didn’t like it. 

“Never mind! Let’s just take her down.” The two took off running at the same time, moving her into a corner together. The pink haired girl had just enough time to pout before clicking her jaw. (Y/N) adjusted her hand on her taser and took a swipe at her knees from the side as Spider-Man tried to shoot some webs at her. Ecstasy dodged, taking up (Y/N)’s arm, opening her mouth, and before (Y/N) could stop her, she sank her teeth into (Y/N)’s forearm. Her teeth met bone. (Y/N) screamed, dropping her taser. 

“Cougar!” Peter sent a high kick at Ecstasy’s chest, and she caught his leg with a free hand, shoving it away and landing a solid and super sped up punch to his stomach, winding him. Through the haze of pain and blood that was dripping onto (Y/N)’s body, she fumbled for a sheath and drew out her favourite knife. Without any hesitation and before Ecstasy could react, the knife was plunged into the pink haired girl’s side. 

An eerie wail was heard around the store as Ecstasy slid her teeth from (Y/N)’s flesh to scream. The music stopped as her phone dropped and shattered on the floor. There was only the noise of sirens and harsh breathing. Peter was just getting up and managed to grab Ecstasy’s wrist as her men ran out of the back door. She shook free of him and became a blur as she ran, one hand clutched to her side.  _ Fuck.  _

The police ran in as Spider-Man was catching (Y/N) from falling to the floor. “Oh, fuck, it hurts, Spidey, it hurts so much.” She hissed as Spidey laid her on the ground, propping her up against a counter.

“I know, I know, we’ll get you help - somebody call and ambulance!” He yelled, panicked. Blood was covering his hands. 

“Don’t let them take off the mask. Or put me under. It’s just a flesh wound, I’ll be fine.” (Y/N)’s eyes were wide with pain but she steeled herself enough to stand.  _ I can’t let them put me under. If I’m asleep I won't be able to stop them taking off my mask.  _

“You aren’t - fine! Cougar, you’re bleeding everywhere!”

“I said I’m fine.” She steeled herself as medical workers rushed in, surrounding her. Peter waved off some that tried to check him for injuries. Immediately (Y/N) was tugged towards an ambulance with Peter jogging beside her. 

“I’ll see you at the hospital, alright? I need to talk to the police quickly, but I’ll get there really soon, okay?” (Y/N) nodded, wincing.

“Get my taser, please.” He nodded. She was hustled onto the ambulance, and watched as Spider-Man ran back to the police. “Alright, I’m gonna have to make this quick. I’ll have a look around, but I have a feeling she’s gone by now. The person we’re looking for has pink hair, about this tall-” He gestured with his hand just below his nose. “Real creepy mouth, unhinges from ear to ear, and goes by the name of Ecstasy. Wearing a black catsuit and probably has a wound in her left side. Got it?” 

The policeman nodded, furiously scribbling notes onto a pad of paper. Peter shot a web and launched himself away towards the back of the building. As he had expected, Ecstasy was gone. All Peter saw was a small glint on the ground, which he swung towards and picked up. It was a pin. Waves were engraved on it, with a shark’s fin just poking through the waves.  _ Kinda fits her character.  _ He dropped the pin off back at the police before swinging his way to the hospital. 

Meanwhile, (Y/N) was trying to sit up on the stretcher, but the medics continually pushed her back down onto the pillow. She kept trying to tell them that she was fine, but they wouldn’t hear it. Finally, one of them snapped, “For God’s sake, stay still!” (Y/N)’s social anxiety kicked in and she lay down without any more complaints. 

She was wheeled into a room and hooked up to an IV immediately. “We need to take off your suit. Can we get a name, address, anything?” A nurse that may have been in her mid - thirties asked her as more medics bustled around her.

“Cougar.”

“Address?”

“No.”

“People we can call?” (Y/N) briefly considered her father.

“No.”

“Alright honey, we need to get this suit off you. Is there anything we should watch out for?”  _ Oh god. Thank god they see me as Cougar, so I can probably play off the bruises and stuff as superhero business.  _

“Do  _ not  _ take it anywhere. Don’t clean it, do nothing with it. I’ll deal with it later. And the mask stays on no matter what, got it?”

“Uh huh. We’re going to need your help to get it off, alright?” (Y/N) nodded, growling through the pain. “On three, can we roll her over and unzip it?”

“It’s fine, I got it. El, unzip the suit.” The zipper travelled down her spine and the nurse helped her to peel it from her shoulders. “Wait. My weapons.” She locked eyes with the nurse. “Don’t touch them. Don’t move them. Don’t take them anywhere.” She began to unsheathe her weapons, placing them beside her bed on the table. 

“Okay hun, we’re gonna need to get your arms out, alright? It might hurt a little. Do you want some painkillers, something to help you get to sleep?” 

“No.” Her voice was steely, and before she could get any help, she slid her arm out of the suit. A hiss of pain fell out of her mouth. The skin tight material was stuck to her skin with blood and Ecstasy’s teeth had pushed the ripped fabric into the puncture wounds. The nurses and doctors collectively took in a breath as they saw the large, deep bite marks that were still slowly pumping out blood. The nurse didn’t ask any questions, instead deciding that she didn’t really want to know. All they needed to do was fix her mangled arm.

As the rest of her suit slipped down her torso, it revealed more bruises and minor cuts. As (Y/N) had hoped, the medical workers appeared to dismiss them as superhero stuff and continued their job without questioning anything. “We’ll get a hospital gown on you soon, hun, we just need to work on your arm.”

“We need to put her under.” A quiet voice came from the other side of her bed.

“I told you, no anaesthetic.” 

“But-”

“She said no.” This voice came from the window and everyone in the room turned as Spider-Man climbed in. The medics looked surprised but took it all in stride.

“We need to. She’ll pass out anyway from the pain. I one hundred percent guarantee it.” Peter looked from the doctor to (Y/N). 

“Look, Cougar. What if I stay here while you’re out? I’ll make sure nobody does anything to you.” (Y/N) contemplated this. She trusted him enough to watch over her, but depending on how long she would be unconscious, she wasn’t sure if Spider-Man would be able to stay awake and by her side for that long.

“How long will I be out?”

“Only as long as it takes us to do the surgery, so maybe a couple hours. Eight at the most.”

“Spidey, can you stay awake that long?”

“Yeah, yeah. Easy. I just need to text someone.” He turned away to text Aunt May that she didn’t need to worry about him, he just had some superhero stuff that needed doing. Although it was about half past midnight, she responded immediately saying that it was fine. Meanwhile, (Y/N) was begrudgingly agreeing to the anaesthetic. 

Just before she went under, with Spider-Man by her side, she whispered to him. “Seriously. They can’t know who I am.” He nodded.

“I know. I’ll be right here.” She passed out. 

After around four hours, they had her arm fully stitched up, along with the cut on her back. There was cream smeared on her bruises and she was sleeping peacefully. Peter was slumped in the chair playing a game on his phone. There was one other doctor in the room, checking her blood supply as it flowed into her. Peter’s stomach growled. The doctor heard it and turned around. 

“There’s a vending machine in the hallway, if you want to get some food. You’ve been there a while.” Peter looked up. 

“I don’t have any cash on me.”

“You can have some of mine. It would be an honour.” Peter gratefully accepted the cash, thanking the man. 

“She’ll be okay, right?”

“Of course. Just a flesh wound.”

“No, I meant with you. You won’t try and look at her or touch any of her stuff, right?”

“Of course not!” The doctor looked offended at the thought. Peter thought he seemed sincere, and wandered out of the room, quickly checking over his shoulder at (Y/N).  _ It’s only for a minute, it’s fine.  _ As soon as he was out of sight, the doctor stepped over to (Y/N), reaching for the bottom of her mask.  _ Just a quick look, _ he thought.  _ Nobody will know. _

He had peeled the mask off the lower half of her face when her eyes snapped open. She grabbed his wrist in a vice-like grip and twisted it, causing the man to cry out in pain. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“I - I’m sorry!” She quickly scanned the room for Spider-Man. He wasn’t there.  _ Son of a bitch!  _ She released the man’s arm with a snarl and he quickly left the room, embarrassed, as she yanked her mask back down over her face. Peter chose that moment to walk back into the room, three chip packets in hand. He stopped short.

“Oh. You’re awake.”

“Where were you? That man just tried to look at me!” He stepped back in surprise.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry! It was only for a minute, I swear! The guy, he swore he wouldn’t try anything, and I was really hungry, and…” He trailed off as he saw (Y/N)’s eyes boring holes into his. 

“That could’ve been a bad mistake, Spidey.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

(Y/N) shook her head with a sigh. “Whatever. Doesn’t matter. He didn’t see me.” Peter was relieved that she wasn’t too annoyed, and held up a packet of chips in a peace offering. She held out her good arm to catch it, tearing it open with her teeth. “Thanks.” As she ate, she examined her bad arm. Small tubes were attached to her skin and there was neat stitching across small holes in her arm. 

“Did they do anything to my back?” She tried to twist her neck around to see, but her neck hurt so she stopped.

“Yeah. They sewed it up, it looks fine. What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?” Peter was unsure if it was superhero stuff or family stuff.

“Got slammed into a wall.”  _ Lying by omission.  _ The answer didn’t really solve Peter’s mystery but he didn’t pry. “How long was I asleep?”

“Just over five hours. It’s about seven in the morning.”

“Ah yes, a stable breakfast food.” She waved the chip packet and a small laugh escaped Peter’s mouth. 

“Do you want me to get you some breakfast?”

“Can I have ice cream? Do you think they would bring me some?” (Y/N) was genuinely excited at the thought.

“I’m sure they would.” He was amused by her excitement. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay? Don’t go anywhere. I’ll go find you some ice cream.”

“Thank you!” She sighed. She felt no pain, the anaesthetic had really helped. That was when she began to remember what had happened a couple of hours earlier.  _ Damn it. She got away, again. I really need to get her next time.  _ She began to do a quick analysis of the girl in her head, Ecstasy had seemed childish, almost strangely so, but incredibly powerful.  _ What if she has other powers that she hadn’t shown us? What would they be?  _ The girl had seemed trained in the art of defence and offence, maybe specifically so to suit her powers and physical ability. 

Although Ecstasy had seemed scrawny in appearance, she was obviously very strong - to fight off two people single handedly, one with superpowers too and one skilled in fighting was no small feat.  _ Motive?  _ Maybe it was just for the money, but from what (Y/N) had seen, Ecstasy didn’t seem like the type to just want a lot of cash.  _ Being evil for the sake of being evil is overdone. I don’t think she would want to be seen as a cliche, so she must have an ulterior motive… I just don’t know what it is yet. I guess I’ll have to find out.  _ Spider-Man walked in with multiple small containers of ice cream.

“Ah! Thank you so much!” Spider-Man smiled at her under the mask as she gratefully accepted the ice cream with a grin. 

“You’re welcome. I located the kitchen and went in there, and just asked for ice cream. They were happy to give it to me. Sometimes the whole superhero thing has its perks.” He tossed her two out of three of the containers, and opened one for himself.

“Agreed.” She attacked the ice cream, peeling her mask back from the lower half of her face so the spoon could reach her mouth. “Another very stable breakfast food.”

“Yes.” A thought occurred to (Y/N). She swore. “What?” Peter asked.

“Peter’s probably up. Oh god, I gotta go!” She swung her legs out of bed, swiping up her phone with her left hand and checking it. Surprisingly, there were no texts from Peter. “He hasn’t texted yet. He might be sleeping in, I’ve got time to get back.” Spider-Man gently pushed her back down onto the bed. “What are you doing? I have to leave!”

“You aren’t going anywhere. I’ve sorted it out with Peter.” She stopped, confused.

“How?”

“I texted him, saying that you had an emergency with Mr. Stark. Don’t worry about it, you can relax.”

“Oh.” She frowned, relaxing again. “What about his Aunt May?”

“He’ll tell her. I’m sure he already has.” (Y/N) chewed on her lip.

“Alright. How long until I can be free again?”

“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask one of the doctors.” Conveniently, a doctor walked in at that exact time. Thankfully, it wasn’t the one from earlier, who had tried to discover her identity.

“Oh. Doctor Kelsie failed to notify me that you were awake.” The doctor said with a frown. “Well, I’m here to check everything’s alright. My name’s Doctor Taylor. Who gave you ice cream?”

“That would be me, sorry.” The doctor turned towards Spider-Man’s voice with a small yelp of surprise. 

“Oh! Spider-Man! I didn’t realise you were here too.” Peter was embarrassed as she immediately began to try and charm him, fluttering her eyelashes slightly and leaning towards him. (Y/N) watched in amusement at his discomfort. “That’s perfectly fine that you gave her food. We had some breakfast coming in here soon as well, if you’d like that too.” She turned back to (Y/N), a question in her eyes.

“Actually, yeah, that’d be good. I’m still really hungry.” She had polished off her second ice cream.

“Sorry, what did you say your name was again?”

“Cougar.”

“Ah. Well, Cougar, we can get you out of here in a few hours. Your… powers, do they help you to heal?”

“Oh! No, I don’t have powers, actually. It’s just me and my suit.” Doctor Taylor looked a little confused.  _ How can you be a superhero without superpowers? _ She thought, but continued. 

“Alright. Well, if we can get a sling on for around a week after we bandage you, you should be all set to go. Or, if you’d prefer, a couple of days in here would help you greatly. We don’t usually let people out so early, but with you being a hero with Spider-Man here, we can make an exception.” She turned back to Spider-Man, pulling a sickly sweet smile. “I just wanted to say while I’ve got you here, I love what you do. You’re so brave to do this every day…” She gazed at him with obvious longing, and (Y/N) let out a snort. Both of them looked at her. She tried to play it off as a cough.  _ Um, not sure if you’ve noticed, Doctor Dreamy, but I’m the one with a large, not human but not animal bite in my arm. And I’m the one who managed to stab a supervillain. _

Peter cleared his throat. “Anyway! Can we get some bandages and a sling on her?” The doctor’s eyes cleared slightly, and she turned back to (Y/N), examining the bandages on the table and picking some up. As she turned into the corner to get some equipment, (Y/N) stifled a laugh as she noticed Doctor Taylor discreetly unbuttoning the top button of her coat. Meeting eyes with Spider-Man, (she was never sure if she was actually meeting his eyes or just looking at his mask as he looked elsewhere), she raised her eyebrows in amusement, and he looked away, embarrassed by the unwanted attention. The doctor turned back with a roll of white bandages and began to carefully wrap her arm.

“Have you ever worn a sling?” She asked (Y/N). Peter noticed the undone top button and his face under the mask went a similar shade to his suit. (Y/N) shook her head, and was shown how to put it on. The hospital gown was too short, and it rode up over her thighs as the doctor helped her to swing her legs over the side of the bed. Spider-Man quickly looked away after seeing her chest exposed from the blanket.  _ Wait… did they take off my underwear too?  _ She looked down at herself, to see that they had. Through the nightgown, her nipples were clearly visible. She sighed, and used the arm that was in the sling to cover her chest.

“What about my stuff?” She glanced at her suit and weaponry by her bed. 

“You can get changed back into it, if you’d like. Or you can just borrow some clothes from someone, I’m sure some of our staff would be happy to help.” 

Spider-Man stood up and went over to (Y/N) to whisper into her ear. “If you wait here for a couple minutes, I can grab some of your clothes from Peter’s place.”

“Spidey?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re a lifesaver. Thanks.” She sat back down on the bed and watched as Spider-Man climbed out the window, webbing away.

“So, are you two a duo?” Taylor asked.

“I… don't really know. Over the last couple patrols, we’ve been working together, but I don’t really know if I could call it partnership…”

“I’ve never seen you before. You been on TV yet?”

“No. I’d prefer to keep the publicity to Spider-Man, but I guess my secret’s kinda out now. I mean, I’m assuming someone here has already been to tell the press about the new ‘hero’ in town.” (Y/N) rolled her eyes.

“You don’t think of yourself as a hero?”

“Not really, no. All I am is someone who wants to make the world a better place. God, that sounds cliche.”

“But you save people. Isn’t that what a hero does?”

“I’m sure anyone who could be in my position would do the same thing.” (Y/N) shifted uncomfortably, embarrassed from the attention. The two of them stayed there in silence for a few more minutes. There was a thump next to the window as Spider-Man landed on the wall and climbed through the window with an armful of clothing. 

“Alright,” the doctor said. “Time to get you changed.” Peter handed (Y/N) her clothes, a pair of blue denim jeans and a simple white blouse.

“Do you want me to go?”

“Yeah, thanks.” Spidey left the room.

“Are you alright with me seeing you naked?” 

(Y/N) hesitated, recalling once again her bruises and cuts, but remembered that it didn’t matter, the staff had already dismissed them as hero work. “Yeah. That’s fine.” 

The two spent around fifteen minutes gently guiding (Y/N)’s limbs through her clothing, redoing her sling, and tying her shoes. She stepped out of her room. Spider-Man was waiting outside. “Ready to go?” He asked. 

“Yeah. Hang on.” She turned to Doctor Taylor. “How long will it take to heal?”

The doctor tilted her head to the side, biting her lip. “I would say around three to four weeks. It’ll take about five days for the stitches to fall out.”  _ I don’t really know what I was expecting. I shouldn’t have hoped for less.  _ (Y/N) cursed herself for being there in the first place. 

She turned back to Spidey with a muttered “let’s go,” forgetting to thank the doctor. Doctor Taylor watched them go with a huff. 

“I’ll tell the other doctors you said thanks.” She murmured under her breath, rolling her eyes and turning away. (Y/N) stopped short at the end of the hallway with a quiet “Shit.” 

“What?” (Y/N) groaned in response. Peter repeated his question. “What?”

“Where do I go?”

“What do you mean?”

“ I can’t go home. You know why. And I can’t go to Peter’s, he’d flip and find out about me being Cougar on top of that.”  _ Too late, _ Peter thought. “May, too. So where do I go? Do I just roam the streets until this heals? And what about all my shit at Peter’s? And what about Peter himself? He’s gonna need an explanation as to why I suddenly ditched his place. And at some point my dad is gonna come looking for me, and what about my little brother, and-”

He shut her up with a finger to his lips. “Shhh.”

“What?”

“Hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“The sound of you not ranting.” 

“Spidey. I’m serious.”

“I know. That’s why I’ve already contacted Mr. Stark. You’ll be staying at Stark Industries. As will your brother.” 

(Y/N) drew back. “Wait, what?”

“It’s all sorted. He’s already got a room and everything for both of you.”

“When did this happen?” She screeched. Two doctors walking past them in the hallway stopped when they saw the pair, and immediately rushed up to ask for Spider-Man’s autograph. He sighed, quickly signing two pieces of paper, and as the two doctors began to initiate conversation, he turned to them.

“Sorry ladies, but I’m having an important conversation. If you wouldn’t mind giving us some privacy, that would be greatly appreciated.” The women looked disappointed but thankfully backed off. (Y/N) impatiently waited for an answer, but on the inside she was intensely hoping that what the red and blue clad boy in front of her was telling her was true.

“When you were out. I had a few hours to think about it, and I decided that contacting Mr. Stark would be best. He’s agreed to take in you and your brother until your arm is healed. Peter’s just gonna be told that you’re needed at Stark Industries, and I can one hundred percent guarantee that your dad isn’t gonna find you, so you won’t need to worry about that.”

“Wait but that means… my brother is gonna find out.”

Spider-Man swore. “Oh shit, I didn’t think about that.” He thought for a second. “Would it really be that bad if he found out? You trust him, don’t you?”

“I mean, yes, but…”

“So it’s fine, right?”

“Yeah, but I just would rather he doesn’t know…”

“Why?”

“Because what if I can’t trust him? I mean, he’s my brother, but he’s just a kid, you know? He’s got friends. What if he sees me on TV now that I’m undoubtedly on it and just go ‘oh, that’s my sister’? What would I do then?”

“How old is he?”

“Thirteen.”

“Cougar. From what I’ve seen, thirteen year olds don’t act like little children anymore. They can keep secrets. And you’ve known him for thirteen years! If anyone knows him well enough, it’s you. But if you really want to keep it from him that bad, then I guess we could arrange something, but it’s your choice.”

(Y/N) thought for a moment.  _ I can’t really see any ways around him finding out. I could just hide from him around the facility, or lie to him and say I hurt my arm another way… but he’s a smart kid. He would put two and two together from seeing me on the news and stuff… Oh, god. I’m gonna have to tell him. _ She sighed. “I’m gonna have to trust him.” Spidey nodded, and the two of them walked out of the hallway together into the lobby.

After signing out, using her hero signature, Spidey handed her her backpack, which was waiting for her on a chair in the lobby. 

“When did you get this?” She asked, baffled. 

“Oh, before I came up with your clothes. I just dropped it off down here and told them to keep an eye on it.”

“Thanks!” She unzipped it awkwardly, using her left hand and holding it between her legs. (Y/N) quickly rifled through her stuff, and, satisfied that it was all there, shoved her suit and weapons in it too. Seeing the hole in the arm of her suit, she winced.  _ Nothing I can do about it right now. I can patch it later, if I can find some spare leather or something. _ Spidey watched her as she wrestled the zip closed again.

“I presume you’ll need a lift?”

“To Stark Industries? That’d be great, but if you can’t be bothered I can just bus there or something.” To be honest, she was kinda wanting to get there as soon as possible. The mask, which she had worn for around nine hours by that point, was getting a little claustrophobic. 

“No, it’s fine, I have nothing better to do anyway.” (Y/N) smiled at the boy.

“Thanks, Spidey.”

“It’s fine.”

“No, seriously.” She stepped forward and tried to meet his eyes through his mask. “Thanks for looking after me. I really appreciate it.” He finally met her eyes, and was taken aback by the intensity in them. “So, Spidey… can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“I was wondering… do you want to, maybe, like…”  _ Wait, what? Is she about to ask me out? She doesn’t even know who I am, how’s it gonna work?  _ Peter became flustered, his mind suddenly crowding with thoughts.  _ And what about me? Like, Peter? Does that mean she doesn’t like Peter? Me?  _ “Do you want to be a duo?”

“Wait, what?”  _ Duo?  _ Peter frowned. 

“Like, a hero duo. You know. Batman and Robin kinda thing. I can be your sidekick.” (Y/N) was a little embarrassed to ask. Even though they had been working together for the last couple nights, she wasn’t sure if he wanted to work with anyone, let alone her. She sighed, mentally expecting him to let her down gently.

“Dude. That would be awesome!” (Y/N) looked up at Peter, surprise in her eyes. 

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, totally! Just one problem - I don’t want a sidekick.” Her heart sank, and she nodded.

“Oh… okay, that’s fine, I was just-” Spidey cut her off.

“I don’t want a sidekick because I would rather have an equal. A partner. You know, someone to work with.” She was confused.

“Wait, so…”

“I want to work  _ with  _ you. If you were to be my sidekick, people would perceive me as the boss, better than you, maybe. And I don’t want that. If anything, you’re a better hero than me! I don’t want you to just be downgraded to sidekick when I want people to see you as my equal.”

(Y/N) let out a quiet “Oh,” before a smile lit up her features. Being mindful of her arm, she stepped in and gave Spider-Man a hug. “We’re gonna have so much fun.”

Peter smiled under the mask.  _ So Peter does have a chance, I guess. I have a chance. _ “Right, so I might have to web you to me to keep you from falling, seeing as you can’t hold on very well. Is that okay?”

“Sure.” She awkwardly hopped onto Spidey’s back, slinging her backpack over one shoulder. He shot small webs over her arm and legs. That was when she looked around. There were small huddles of people gazing at the pair, some holding phones, recording them. “Shit.”

“What?”

“The people. I’m gonna be all over the media.”

“You don’t want that?”

“No! I wanted to leave the publicity to you, remember? There’s a reason Mr. Stark hadn’t heard of me before I moved here, and that’s because I never got caught!”

“Ah. We’d better go then. Maybe Mr. Stark can contain the videos before they spread.” (Y/N) hummed a yes, annoyed at herself for getting into this mess, and Spidey started running. She felt a jerk as he towed himself forward on a web, and as they left the ground, she silently watched the groups of people gazing back at them from the ground. Groaning internally, (Y/N) resigned herself to her fate.


	10. Chapter 10

When the two reached Stark Industries, landing at the entrance, (Y/N) took a moment to appreciate the impressive architecture of the place. The building towered over her and she craned her head back as Spidey cut the webs keeping her in place. She slipped off his back and leaned back further, trying to see the top.

“It’s so big.”

“I know. It’s kind of terrifying, actually. I’ve gotten lost a lot of times.” They walked in the front door, entering a lobby kind of area.

“What floor?” She asked.

“Ninety two, I think. That’s the lounge where you first met some of the Avengers. Floor ninety three is the roof.”

“...Wow. That’s a lot of floors.”

“Don’t worry. The elevator is fast.” Stepping inside the said elevator, Peter pressed the button for floor ninety two and (Y/N) felt a strange feeling in her stomach as they began to go up. “Mr. Stark said that some of the Avengers are still here. Oh, and you’ll get to meet Thor and Loki.” (Y/N) twisted to face him.

“For real?!”

“Yeah, remember Mr. Stark said last time you were here that they were coming in a couple days? They arrived yesterday.” She began to fangirl. Ever since she had first heard of the Avengers, she had idolised Thor, dreamed of meeting him…  _ him and those rock solid muscles.  _ She shook her head at her own lewd thoughts.

“Why are you blushing?” Peter asked.

“I don’t know, just… Thor’s kinda hot.” Her unexpected answer made Peter’s eyebrows shoot up.

“I mean…” he thought about it for a second. “Actually, yeah, he is.”

“Wow, that’s pretty gay.” (A/N - I don’t mean this as an insult or anything, I fully support and am a member of the LGBTQ+ community :) ) 

“I’m not gay! I’m bi.” He muttered the last part, but (Y/N) heard.

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah.” He mumbled, going red again under the mask. “If you wouldn’t mind, can you keep that to yourself? I haven’t actually told anyone.” (Y/N) grinned.

“Of course. This is great! Now we can talk about guys together!”

“Oh yeah? You got any guy in particular you want to talk about?” Peter saw his opportunity and took it.

“Mm, actually, I just meant guys in general. Ooh, okay, I have a question! Would you rather date Captain America or Thor?”

“Thor, obviously. You?”

“Well. I think you already know the answer to that, considering the fact that I just told you I think Thor is hot.”

“Okay, well… Thor or… Peter Parker?” He glimpsed the skin visible under the mask go a dark red, and he waited expectantly for the answer, a little anxious.

“Umm… pass?”

“Hey! That’s not how the game works.”

“Dare.”

“No.”

“Never have I ever-”

“Not even the same game!” Spidey laughed.

“Alright!” She sighed. “Umm, probably Peter.” She could feel the heat in her face intensify.

“You’d rather date Peter than the god of thunder? Really?” Internally, Peter was elated. He hadn’t expected her to answer with his name. He knew it didn’t mean much, as it was only hypothetical, but still… she’d rather be with him than be with the god of thunder.

“I mean, Peter’s my age, and he actually knows I exist. He knows ordinary me, and I know him. Plus, it would be a little weird to date my idol.” (Y/N) tried to explain herself, but Spidey wasn’t having it. 

“Do you like him? Peter?”

“I, um…” The elevator dinged and the doors slid open.  _ You’ve gotta be kidding me. Interrupted again?  _ Peter groaned in his head. Mr. Stark was sat on a pure white couch and stood when he heard the elevator. 

“Ah! You’re here.” (Y/N) smiled as she walked towards the older man.

“Mr. Stark, thank you so much-”

“No problem kid. It’s nothing, really. I’m looking forward to meeting your brother, when is he getting here?”

“I haven’t actually told him yet.” Mr. Stark frowned but took it into stride.

“We can send around a car to pick him up. Do you know where he is?”

“I can text him. He’s with a friend.”

“I see. And,” He walked towards her, pointing a finger gun. “By ‘I haven’t told him yet’, how much haven’t you told him?”

“I… haven’t told him anything. About me being Cougar or anything. But I have thought about it and we’ve decided that I’m gonna need to tell him at some point, so why not now? Speaking of being Cougar, I might just take the mask off… it’s getting kinda stuffy.” She reached up with her good arm and began to take it off, but Mr. Stark walked swiftly towards her, shaking his head.

“Ah ah ah. Are you sure you want these two to know who you are so quickly?” For the first time, (Y/N) looked around and noticed two men sitting in silence on another couch. One had black, shoulder length hair that was slicked back past her ears, with a scowl on his face. He was lanky and very tall, wearing a black suit, and handsome in a dark kind of way. (Y/N) recognised him vaguely. The other was… the other was Thor. The god of thunder. 

She stopped short. 

“Oh.” She squeaked out as the burly man stood with a warm smile. He was wearing a leather jacket and a plain white t-shirt that clung to his clearly defined muscles, and a pair of blue jeans. 

“You must be Cougar!” He exclaimed, grasping her good hand and kneeling in front of her to press his lips to it. (Y/N) stood blinking in the presence of the man, eyes wide as the moon. “Are you injured, milady?” A frown took over his beautiful features as he took in her sling. She forgot to reply for a moment as she gazed at her idol, then stuttered out a small yes.

“It’s nothing though. I mean, it’ll heal soon enough. Just a flesh wound.”

“I see.” Thor’s bemused expression faded and he smiled again. “Well, milady, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. Stark was just telling us about you… in fact, he was telling us that you’d be a good addition to the team.” (Y/N) shot a look at Tony, who was standing next to Spider-Man with a smile on his face, watching the exchange. He shot her a thumbs up as Thor continued. “You must visit Asgard sometime!”

“A-Asgard?”

“My homeland!” He said cheerily. “You would be treated as a queen, a warrior princess there. I’m sure you are deserving.” At this, the other man stood up, clearing his throat. 

“Well, I’m going to head off. I may see you later, brother.” His voice was smooth, slightly British sounding.

“Ah! Yes, Cougar! You must meet my brother, Loki.” Loki rolled his eyes.

“Wait, you two are brothers?”

“Unfortunately. Adopted, though.” Loki stepped towards her, a sour look on his face as he took her hand and gave it a brief shake. “Pleasure.” (Y/N) detected a hint of sarcasm in his voice, and felt a little uncomfortable under his gaze as it swept her from head to toe and back again. 

“Hey, big guy?” Tony spoke up. “Would you mind showing him to his room? You know where it is.” Thor nodded, a bright smile still covering his face.

“Of course.” The pair walked away, and (Y/N) watched them go in awe before turning back to Spider-Man and Mr. Stark. She couldn’t contain herself.

“I… just met Thor. And his brother.”

Tony smiled widely. “That’s right, kid.”

“I just met Thor.” She repeated this quietly to herself, shocked. Peter was grinning under his mask at (Y/N)’s childish excitement. 

“This is Loki’s first time here too, but you two should be able to learn the layout of the place pretty quick. But anyway, I’ll show you your room. Also, I’d like a full recount about your little fight, and everything leading up to this point.”

A few minutes and multiple winding hallways later, the three of them arrived at a room. “We’ve got clothes your size in the wardrobe, and a Netflix account all set up for you. Your brother will be next door.” As Mr. Stark opened the door, (Y/N) turned to whisper to Spidey.

“How did he know my size?”

“Best not to ask.” He whispered back. The two of them followed Mr. Stark into (Y/N)’s room and she stopped short.

“Um, Mr. Stark, sir, there’s really no need-”

“Kid, if you try and complain one more time, I’m going to make it worse and make you take a couple hundred dollars or something. Just don’t refuse anything, and it won’t get worse.”

“O-okay.” She looked around and her surroundings took her breath away. A double bed with white covers and what looks like silk sheets was placed against the far wall, facing a TV. To the left of the bed, there were sliding doors opening out on an incredible view of Queens. There were three doors in the room, and Mr. Stark pointed to each one in turn.

“That’s your wardrobe, bathroom, and the door to your brother’s room. You can lock it, if you need to.” The carpet was soft and fluffy as she walked on it, feeling extremely self conscious and praying that there wasn’t any mud on her shoes. “We can keep all the clothes there for the next time you stay, or you can take whatever - it’s all yours.”

“Thank you.” She spoke quietly, awestruck by her new mentor’s generosity. 

“Maybe text your brother so we can get him settled too.” (Y/N) nodded in response, finally peeling off her mask and gripping it tightly in her hand. “Tell me when you know where he is, and I’ll send Happy around. Just ask Friday to notify me.”

“Friday?”

“My own A.I. Happy is my driver.” She nodded again.

“Right, well, I’ll leave you to get settled.” He smiled warmly and walked out of the room, leaving Spidey and (Y/N) in the room together. She gently placed her bag next to the bed and sat down on top of the smooth sheets. 

“Mr. Stark likes to showcase his money, as you’ve probably seen.”

“I know, but this… this is extensive. He put a room together just for me and my brother in only a few hours! And a full wardrobe! It’s too much!”

“I can try and get him to dial it down a little, if you’d like.”

“I mean, I don’t mind at all, I’m not gonna complain or anything,” she looked appreciatively around the room again. “But I’m just worried about expenses. Like, there’s an actual leather jacket in the wardrobe which probably cost more than all my clothes combined.” A thought occurred to her and she paused. “Do you have a room too?”

“Yeah. But we won’t be going there anytime soon.”  _ Because it’s full of my stuff. Peter stuff. She might recognise it.  _ She pulled an exaggerated sad face.

“Why not? You’ve seen my room now.”

“Well you might get an idea of who I am. And we can’t have that, now, can we?”

“I mean, you know who I am… I don’t really know the implications of that until I find out who you are.”

“I’d rather not. I’m sorry. Maybe another time, though.” (Y/N) nodded, accepting his statement. 

“Alright. I just need to send my brother a quick text and then I can explore my wardrobe.” She smiled at the thought. From the small glance she had of the wardrobe, she had seen some stuff in her kind of style. She decided not to question how Mr. Stark knew what her style even was. Her mentor seemed to know everything there was to know.

She texted Caleb, asking for his location. He sent it back to her. He was staying at his friend Marcus’s house, and she replied telling him to get into the car that was being driven around. (Y/N) decided to ignore his texts asking what was going on. “Um, Spidey? How do I ask for Friday?”

“Just speak. Like this; hey, Friday?”

A humanoid voice sounded around the room, flooding from hidden speakers in the walls and ceiling. “Hello, Spider-Man. What can I do for you?” (Y/N) started at the voice and looked around for the source. She felt the hairs on her neck prickle as unseen cameras scanned her quickly. “Who’s this?”

“This is (Y/N), or Cougar. Can you book her into the system please?”

“Already done. Mr. Stark requested it when she first arrived.”

“Do you wanna talk to her?” Spidey asked (Y/N). She nodded, a little awe-inspired by the incredible tech speaking to her.

“H-hello?”

“Hey there.”

“Can you please notify Mr. Stark as to where my brother is?” She gave Friday and address.

“Done. Is there anything else you need?” She thought about it for a second.

“Yeah, just a quick question - are the cameras operating all the time in here?”

“Only when you need them to. You can enable and disable them at will.”

“And only I can do that, right?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, thanks Friday.”

“You’re very welcome.” There was a sudden silence in the room as the voice disappeared.

“Woah. That was…”

“Weird?” Peter asked.

“Yeah.” He chuckled in response.

“Do you want me to leave you to it, or stay here?”

“You can stay, if you want.” She stood up and wandered to the bathroom door and opened it, her eyebrows raising.  _ I don’t really know what I expected.  _ The room was, of course, swanky as heck - a bath the size of a small pool sat built into the corner, with a wide sink and a large mirror. There was a small, almost separate room for the toilet, and the shower was also massive, the shower head nearly a metre by a metre in size. Peter sat behind her on the bed, grinning at her as she admired the bathroom. 

She opened one of the mirror-doors and raised her eyebrows at the amount of makeup there.  _ Stonks. _ She giggled at the absurdity of her situation.  _ One of the most famous men in the world bought me makeup and clothes.  _ She wandered back out after exploring a little.  _ Oh boy. Wardrobe time.  _ She opened the door to her walk-in wardrobe, blinking in shock at how big it was. There was almost every item of clothing she could imagine, and a pale pink blush coloured her skin as she opened a drawer to find it full of lacy lingerie.  _ Please god tell me Mr. Stark didn’t pick this out himself.  _ Fortunately, he didn’t really strike her as the type of guy who would do shopping himself. 

(Y/N) trailed her hands over the racks of clothes before walking back out and shutting the door behind her, leaning against it and sighing.

“Is it everything you ever dreamed of?” Peter asked with a laugh.

“You could say that.”

“How’d you feel meeting Thor and Loki earlier?”

“Overwhelming. He’s been my idol since I was like, five. I’ve never heard of Loki before, though.”

“He scares me a tiny bit.”

“I feel like that’s just how he wants us to perceive him. Who knows, maybe he’s a total softie on the inside.”

“Doubt it. But I don’t know, I’ve only met him twice. Haven’t really gotten to know him yet, I don't even know if he’d let me.”

“We can win him over together.” She flopped down on the bed next to him, and the two breathed together in silence for a minute. (Y/N) tugged her mask back onto her head with one hand, which was difficult. “El?”

“Hello.” Spidey was watching her, not hearing her A.I’s voice in her ear. 

“What’s been going on lately? Any more sights of possible drug addict Ecstasy?”

“Nothing’s been happening around here. The police contained a small fight that broke out in a mall earlier, but that’s it.”

“Okay, thanks.” He pulled her mask back off. Peter watched her features become uncovered again, appreciating the beauty in them, before he realised that he was staring and he felt his face heat up.

“What’s been going on?” He asked, making conversation.

“Not much. Nothing major.” He nodded, and stood up. 

“I should probably go home. I have some homework to catch up on.”

“Aw, really? The Amazing Spider-Man has homework?”

“Unfortunately.” He smiled and stood up, walking towards the door. “I’ll come around again tonight, though. Keep you up to date on what’s going on. I’ll get Peter to visit you too, he’s got a room here.”

“Okay. I’ll see you later, then.”

“See you.” He gave her one last wave before exiting the room, shutting the door behind him. (Y/N) spoke out loud to the room.

“Friday? You there?”

“I’m always here.” (Y/N) grimaced at the words, which sounded a little creepy sounding. 

“Is it possible for you to log onto my Spotify account?”

“I can connect to your phone, if you’d like.”

“What does that involve?”

“My interface will always know where your phone is. All your contacts and photos will be downloaded, along with all the apps you want. I can connect to the television in your room if you need visuals more than just audio. You will also have additional storage on your phone, for anything you need to download.”

“Will my data be safe? Search history and everything?”

“Mr. Stark has told me that only you can access it, yes.”

“Alright then. How do I connect to you?”

“Around the back of the television there should be a small cord. Just plug it in and there should be a small pop-up. It shouldn’t take long.” Everything was exactly as the A.I said, and (Y/N) plugged in her phone. It took about a minute to connect all her phone’s data to the system, and when it was done, the TV turned on. It showed the home screen of her phone, with all it’s apps and everything.

“Woah.” She murmured, picking up the remote. Going onto Spotify, she chose her favourite playlist. It began to play, presumably through the surround sound speakers that Friday sounded through. She smiled as her favourite song began to play and she slumped back onto the bed, for the moment happy. That happiness soon changed to dread as she thought about school the next day.

_ What am I gonna do? It’s a school for science and technology students. Smart people. They can put two and two together… what if I were to get a cast instead of a sling, to make it look like I broke my arm instead of getting… bitten… by an inhuman thing with bubblegum pink hair, superspeed and sharp teeth at about midnight last night. I guess I could take Monday off, and if I just text the group chat  _ (A/N - group chat contains Ned, MJ, and Peter if you couldn’t guess)  _ saying I broke my arm, that might be believable… I’ll have to be careful, though. Mind you, why didn’t they put a cast on me in the first place? It’s only bandaged… isn’t it supposed to be both bandaged and plastered? _

She looked at her arm.  _ They must’ve just let me out early. I guess I’ll have to ask Mr. Stark for some help getting someone to do it.  _ Dr. Banner popped into (Y/N)’s mind, eliciting a laugh from her.  _ Not that kind of doctor, (Y/N).  _ She remembered something from earlier, when she was exiting the hospital. The crowds of people holding phones.  _ Oh, shit.  _ Grabbing her phone, she went onto her social media and groaned. 

There were pictures of her  _ everywhere.  _ From varying angles, almost every account she followed had posted photos and videos on her feed. Photos of her.  _ There’s a reason Cougar only comes out at night.  _ (Y/N) scanned the photos, panic rising in her chest at the endless amount, looking for any indication that people would know that it was her under the mask. She could only see an issue with the clothes, which, if anyone close to her saw her in from now, would possibly recognise.

_ I’ll have to get rid of them.  _ She looked down in dismay at her clothes.  _ I mean, if I just wear them when nobody is around, maybe. I suppose there are a lot of replacement jeans in the wardrobe.  _ Refreshing her feed, more pictures of her popped up swinging away on Spidey’s back from news accounts. There was a knock on her door. 

“Kid? Can I come in?” She walked over and let him in. “What’s all the news I’m seeing about you and Spidey, huh?”

“Oh my god, it’s on the news too?”

“What did you expect?” He read out a news article title. “‘Have we got a new hero in town? Crime fighter going by the name of ‘Cougar’ was admitted to the hospital late last night…’” He trailed off as he saw the dismayed look on her face. “Look, kid, I’ll handle it the best I can, but there are hundreds of images of you. Even you in the hospital. I don’t know how much I can do.”

“It’s okay, Mr. Stark.”

“I’ll try my hardest, kid, but have you ever thought that it might be for the best?” At her bemused look, he continued, explaining himself. “I mean, if you’re going to be Spidey’s partner, people are going to know that you’re out there at some point. You catch my drift?” She nodded slowly.  _ He’s got a point. I hadn’t really even considered…  _ “Publicity might even be good for you. People will know who you are when you catch them robbing banks or whatever, they’ll know to be scared of you.” The man grinned and nudged her good side. “Do you still want me to try to take the footage down?”

“Sorry, Mr. Stark, but I think it would be better if you try and get them off the internet. If you can. I don’t think I’m quite ready for the spotlight just yet.”

“Understood, kid.” He went to walk out of the room, but (Y/N) called him back. 

“Sorry Mr. Stark, but do you mind if I ask one more favour, if it isn’t too much trouble?”

“Shoot.”

“I can’t take an unexplained couple weeks off school while my arm kinda heals, so I’m going to need a cover story. I was thinking, if I get a cast on my arm and say I broke it and come back to school in a few weeks, people won’t get too suspicious. I was wondering if you could set me up with a doctor to get me a cast.”

“Sure, kid. That’s a good point, actually. I hadn’t thought that far through this.”

“Thanks, Mr. Stark.”

“You’re very welcome. I’m your guardian as long as you’re under this roof.” (Y/N) smiled at this and Tony walked out of the room, only to pop his head back around the door in a few seconds. “Oh, and you might want to start thinking about what you’re going to say to your brother. He should be here soon.”

“Will do.” The girl sighed and contemplated how to even begin telling her brother.

Caleb stepped out of the fancy car with his bag, still remembering to thank the driver in his bemusement. (Y/N) had told him to trust the man in the car who had come to pick him up, and the man had brought him… here. To Stark Industries. A massive, fancy tower in the middle of the city. The driver, who had introduced himself as Happy, got out of the car behind him. “Go on in.” He said.  _ Wow, his name really doesn’t suit his face,  _ Caleb thought, but followed his instructions. 

The two stepped inside the lift, just as Spidey and (Y/N) had just about an hour ago, and began going up. 

“Why am I here?” Caleb tried. 

“Mr. Stark’s orders.”

“Wait, Mr. Stark is here? Like, Tony Stark? Iron Man?”

“Well, what do you expect? This is his home.” Caleb let out a small ‘oh’. “You a fan?” Happy asked.

“Well, yeah! Isn’t everyone? My sister in particular. But I still don’t know why she’s got me to come here with you… is she here?”

“Yeah, she is. She’ll tell you about it in a minute.” Right on cue, the elevator doors opened and they stepped out into the same lounge where (Y/N) first met the Avengers. Caleb gazed down another hallway and watched a man walk past the end of it in a junction.

“Wait wait wait. Did Captain America just walk past or am I dreaming? Is this a hallucination?” 

“Not a hallucination, kid.” Tony Stark walked into the room. “Thanks, Happy. You can go now.” Happy nodded and left, striding down a hallway.

“Sir, if you don’t mind me asking, why am I here?” Caleb was humbled by the presence of the very famous man standing in front of him and smiling warmly.

“Your sister will explain in a minute, when she gets here.” Caleb gazed at his surroundings as they waited for a few moments. (Y/N) strode into the room, sling swinging. He gaped. 

“What happened to your arm?”

“I’ll get to that later. You might want to sit down.”  _ Best to just fake confidence. Fake that I know what I’m doing, telling him about my secret life.  _ She took a deep breath as Caleb sat down.

“I’ll leave you two to it. Just ask Friday if you need me.” Tony strode away down the hallway, whistling a tune that (Y/N) recognised as We Didn’t Start The Fire by Billy Joel. 

“Why are we here? How do you know one of the most famous men on the planet? What’s going on?”

“Caleb, have you seen the news, or any social media lately?”

“You mean all the stuff about the new hero? What’s her name, Cougar?”

“Yeah well…”  _ Just say it. _ “That’s me.” Caleb’s jaw swung open and a laugh fell out of his mouth. 

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” (Y/N) didn’t answer, just looked at him. “Y-you’re serious?”

“Yeah.” 

He opened his mouth then shut it again before asking; “How long?”

“How long have I trained for, or how long have I actually been… Cougar?”

“How long have you trained?”

“Nearly three years. Do you remember when I first started getting obsessed with the Avengers, when I was about twelve?”

“Yeah.” His voice was quiet. 

“I started planning a couple months after that. I made a workout routine, signed up for some online martial arts training courses, the works. On my thirteenth birthday I went out for my first night run to get in shape, and after school sometimes I would go to the gym.”

“On the days you said you were studying?”

“Yeah. I never actually needed to. Anyway, while I was getting my body into shape for my role, I started collecting things. Tech pieces, leather fabric, all that stuff. I started building my suit.”

“Your suit? Like a super suit?”

“Yeah. Come with me, I’ll show it to you.” They got up and (Y/N) began to lead him to her room, still talking. It felt good to finally tell him, if she was honest. “And then the other night, I met Spider-Man when I was doing a patrol. He saw me fight two men, who were about to… never mind. That’s irrelevant. But anyway, he saw me, and then the next night he found me again. After a couple of nights, he ended up telling Mr. Stark, who works with him - you know that already, though.” 

Caleb followed, listening in silence. “Spider-Man told me that Mr. Stark wants to mentor me. Next night, I was waiting for Spidey and he and Mr. Stark both turned up. I ended up being told to come here, and I met some of the Avengers.”

“You got to meet the Avengers? That’s so cool!” (Y/N) smiled and continued.

“So it turns out they want to train me, help me become someone like Spider-Man. Not in the Avengers,” She saw the question her brother was about to ask. “But just working with them, you know. Friendly neighbourhood hero. So of course, I said yes. Then yesterday, as I was walking with a friend - you know Peter Parker? Yeah, him. Anyway, I was walking with him and I saw something going on in one of the local jewellery stores, someone had a gun and was waving it around. I had to do something, so I went in.”

Caleb frowned. “Why? Do you have a death wish?” 

She ignored him. “There was this girl… I gave a description to the police afterwards. She had bright pink hair and a really big mouth. I managed to get rid of the two men she had with her, but she got away with a bunch of expensive shit. That night, last night, I saw her again while I was Cougar. I had Spidey with me this time, and we both tried to fight her, but it turns out she also has superpowers. She called herself Ecstasy, and she has superspeed, and can eat anything from what I’ve seen.” 

The two turned into the hall with her room. “Long story short, she kicked both our asses, I stabbed her in the side and she bit through my arm.”

“She  _ what? _ ”

“She, like, unhinged her jaw and bit down on my arm. I ended up in hospital for a few hours, they stitched me up and everything. They let me off early because I was with Spidey and they probably thought I had hero shit to do. But while I was out, Spidey realised that I couldn’t go anywhere without people asking me what the fuck happened, so he called Mr. Stark, who had rooms set up for us. So pretty much we’ll be staying here for an indefinite amount of time.” She opened the door to her room. “This is my room. You’re next door.”

“We have our own rooms? Here?” He fell silent as he saw the interior of the room, walking in and gazing around. 

“I haven’t seen your room yet. Wanna have a look?” Caleb nodded, still silent, eyes wide. She opened the door to Caleb’s room and the two went inside. The room was similar to (Y/N)’s in the decoration and placement of furniture, just the flip side of it. The wardrobe was smaller but still had a lot of clothing, and the bathroom was symmetrical to (Y/N)’s. The rooms reminded her of a hotel. 

“This is all mine?” 

She replied with a nod. “All the clothes and everything, apparently. It’s kind of terrifying how expensive everything is, but Mr. Stark said if I complain then he’ll give me more.” Caleb went to sit down on the bed, but (Y/N) stopped him.

“Ay! Your ass is all dirty, I thought you were raised better than that.” He looked sheepish and apologised. “Go shower or something, you reek. Both of us are going to need to look more presentable if we’re staying here. Once you get out I’ll show you my suit.” She left her little brother for a moment, before walking back in. “...You aren’t mad, right? That I haven’t told you?”

Caleb gave a small smile. “I mean, I only wish you told me earlier because then I would have made you take me out some night and show me what it’s like.” 

She laughed. “So sorry. Will you forgive me if I let you try on my mask?”

“Yeah, yeah. Now get out and go shower yourself.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyy it’s me again back with a hopefully awaited update! :) I’m sorry it’s been a while but guess who got to start school again and has been neglecting her schoolwork so has a fuckton to catch up on... yup it’s ya bitch. I haven’t had much time to write very often or at all but I had some chapters saved up so... here’s one. Enjoy :)

Panic bloomed in (Y/N)’s chest as she stepped into the massive shower and saw the buttons.  _ Who has buttons in a freaking shower?  _ Luckily, it seemed pretty straightforward, and she managed to turn the water on an acceptable temperature. After just googling how to keep her bandages dry, she felt ridiculous wearing a plastic bag over her arm in the shower. She had clamped it with a hair tie just above her elbow after wrestling with her jeans for a while and looked at it with a grimace.

With one hand, she awkwardly washed herself and dried herself after she got out. She took note of the button with the musical note on it, mentally writing down to try it at some point. Her clothes lay discarded on the floor as she stepped into her wardrobe in a fluffy towel, before she let the towel drop in front of the mirror and looked at her reflection. The bruises were already fading, and she craned her head around on her neck to try and see what the spilt on her back looked like. She caught a short glimpse of neat stitches before her neck made a cracking noise and she turned back around. 

It took (Y/N) half and hour to fully explore the wardrobe and decide on an outfit to wear in front of the Avengers. Black, ripped skinny jeans with a form fitting white shirt and the leather jacket from earlier. She found some awesome black combat boots and put them on too, standing in front of the mirror. She grinned at her reflection. Although the sling didn’t really make the look any better, it was kind of the best she could do for the time being, and she decided that she was happy with the outfit and strode out confidently. The clothes, although they smelled new, were as comfortable and familiar as if she had worn them plenty of times before. 

_ Right, well… what now?  _ She sat on her bed.  _ I’m here. I’m at Tony Stark’s house. I can’t fight people because of my arm. I can’t go outside because of my arm. I can’t really do anything because of my arm.  _ (Y/N) chewed on her lip, thinking.  _ Can’t fix my suit yet because I don’t have the parts… I could text Peter.  _ She remembered what she had told Mr. Stark earlier about needing a cover story for having a cast, and grabbed her phone, opening the group chat. 

Chicken Nuggy bois

Me:

Y’all I broke my arm

Ned :)

How???

McJackass 

Tbh I’m not surprised

Me:

I attempted to give a moving

train a high-five

McJackass

Okay what the fuck

Me:

Jk I fell out a fuckin window 

lmao

Ned :)

Excuse me you live in 

an apartment

Me:

You think I don’t know that

McJackass

Welp let’s see it

(Y/N) paused at this. She didn’t have a cast yet, but she supposed she could just say they were about to put the cast on. After walking into the bathroom, she took a picture of her arm against a wall and sent it to the chat.

McJackass

Haha nice one

Me:

Ikr :)

Ned :)

Well are you ok???

Me:

I’ll be fine lol

At that moment, Peter’s icon turned green, meaning he was online. He started typing, then stopped, then started again. She waited for his response.

Dorkboy

How the fuck did you fall 

out the window

Me:

I got stuck in a bathroom

bcs the lock was jammed 

so I tried to climb down

the pipe like a dumbass

Ned :)

...right

The conversation ended, leaving (Y/N) to continue wondering what to do. There was a knock on the door connecting her room to her brother’s. 

“Come in!” She yelled. Caleb walked in wearing a simple black t-shirt and denim jeans with converse. 

“Right, let’s see this suit then.”

“Oh yeah.” She wrestled her bag open again and tugged out her suit, frowning at the teeth marks in the right forearm before laying it out on the bed. He ran his fingers over it before picking it up. 

“What are these for?” He pointed to the sheaths attached to the legs and hips.

“These.” She replied, pulling out her weapons one by one. Caleb’s jaw swung open again at the probably deadly itinerary, and gingerly picked up one of her knives. 

“Have you… used these on people?”

  
  


“Generally the knives are only for emergencies, like last night, where I used this one-” She tugged a bloody knife out of the bottom of her bag. “But mostly I use this one.” Picking up the taser, she swung it out to it’s full length and activated it. The hum of electricity startled Caleb and he dropped the knife with a small yelp. 

“Did you make all of these?”

“The tech-y stuff, yeah. I bought the knives. Do you wanna see my favourite thing?” He nodded, and she held up the palms of her suit. “I based these off Spidey’s suit. They shoot little webs, see?” She shot a small one out the open sliding doors. 

“Isn’t that kind of stealing his thunder?”

“Well, I can’t make them quite like Mr. Stark made them, especially since I don't know what the web fluid is made of. So they dissolve after about two minutes.” Caleb pointed to the jets on the palms. 

“What are those?” He asked. “Those are my jets. I based those of Iron Man’s. They don’t last very long though, they need time to recharge. I also have them on my boots.”

Out of her bag, she pulled more stuff - this time the boots that she wore with the suit. “These are shock absorbing and make me jump really far.” Turning them over, she displayed the larger jets on the soles of the shoes.

“I would ask how, but I think that would just confuse me more. What else you got?” (Y/N) smiled before picking up her mask from her bed. 

“This is just my mask, but I built in an A.I. system to it. Her name is ELSI, El for short. You can try if you want, just give me a second to put you into her system. Hey, El?” She spoke to the earpieces implanted in her ears, and Caleb looked surprised. Her A.I. responded.

“Hello, (Y/N).”

“Yeah, my little brother’s gonna wear the mask, so don’t set off any alarms, okay?”

“Got it.”

“How were you speaking to her if you aren’t wearing the mask?” Caleb asked curiously. 

“I made little implants, see?” She brushed her hair out of the way so that he could have a look at the small implants in her ears. “It took a while, but she’s connected to the internet and everything. She can also block or enhance my hearing.” His eyes wide, Caleb nodded. 

“So you can access her all the time?”

“Yeah.”

“Woah.” He gingerly tugged the mask down over his face, with his hair sticking out the top like a bottle brush. “Hello? Elsa, or whatever your name is?”

“It’s ELSI. You can just call her El, though.”

“El?” (Y/N)’s A.I. obviously responded, because his eyes went even wider. 

“Ask her what the weather is or something.” He followed her advice, and looked outside as El gave an accurate description of the weather. Reaching up, he pulled the mask back off and handed it to her. 

“You built that?”

“Yeah. You like it?”

“It’s incredible! How long did it take?”

“About a year, give or take.” He fell silent, trailing his hands over her weapons. “Have you seen Mr. Stark’s A.I. yet?”

“No.”

“Hey, Friday?” 

“Hello.” The voice was once again activated from all around them and Caleb looked around. 

“Woah!”

“Have you connected your phone yet?”

“I didn’t even know I could.”

“C’mon.” She towed her little brother into his own room again, where she showed him the small plug symmetrical to the one she used. “Plug it in, then you can access all your stuff on the T.V. too.”

“Alright.” He did just that as (Y/N) turned on the T.V. to show him what it was like. She felt guilt blossom in her chest as she realised what she was doing.  _ I’m showing off things that aren’t even mine. I’ve just fully welcomed my little brother into a house that isn’t mine, and I don’t even know how long we’ll be staying. Mr. Stark could kick us out at any moment and I’ve just got Caleb pretty much settled and set up for disappointment when he gets rid of us. _

The thought sobered her excitement and Caleb seemed to notice her change in attitude. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“I’m sorry, I just… I don’t know how long we’ll be staying here, and I just realised that I don’t want to get too settled if it’s going to end in you getting disappointed, you know?”

Her little brother smiled sadly. “Don’t worry about it. I already knew this wouldn’t be a permanent thing or anything, but I would like to enjoy it while it lasts… we’re in Tony Stark’s house! I mean, it’s like a five star hotel plus the Avengers. It’s incredible!” His statement brought a smile back to (Y/N)’s face and she brought her brother in for a hug.

“I’m so glad to have you for a brother.” Caleb was embarrassed but accepted and retaliated the hug. The two stayed like that for a moment before she pulled back and stood up. “I’m going to ask Mr. Stark what there is to do around here while I have to stay inside. Hey, Friday?”

“What can I do for you?”

“Where’s Mr. Stark? I need to ask him some stuff.”

“Mr. Stark is on the 71st floor, in his workshop. Would you like me to alert him?”

“Sure, yeah. Is it okay if I disturb him?”

“Give me a moment and I can check for you.” Friday fell silent for a few seconds, then spoke again. “He said to meet him in the lounge. He’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Okay, Friday, thanks.”

“You’re very welcome.” (Y/N) turned to her brother.

“I’ll leave you here. Maybe… don’t tell anyone about this, okay? That you’re staying here?”

Caleb nodded, but then frowned. “Hey, (Y/N)? What about Dad?”

“What about him?”

“What if he comes looking? What is he tells the police or something?”

“He won’t find us here, don’t worry. And Mr. Stark can handle it if he does.” Again, (Y/N) felt a pang of guilt for confirming that Mr. Stark had everything sorted.  _ I’m relying on him too much already.  _ Nevertheless, she left the room to walk the lounge. This time on her walk there, she took note of the rooms she saw as she passed. There was a boardroom with glass walls (presumably for the Avengers, but she wasn’t entirely sure), multiple bathrooms and cupboards, and, when she reached the lounge, she noticed a modern looking kitchen in which Black Widow was standing, looking in the fridge. 

She stood up straight as she noticed (Y/N) in the room. “Hey, Cougar. (Y/N)? Which would you prefer?”

“Just (Y/N) is fine for now.” The girl smiled at the gorgeous redhead.

“What’d you do to your arm?”

“Got bitten by a supervillain.” It was said with a hint of nonchalance as she tried to impress Black Widow.

“Got  _ what  _ by a supervillain? Which supervillain is this?”

“New one, I think. Goes by Ecstasy. Spidey and I can handle it, though.” Black Widow closed the fridge, nodding.

“Alright. Well, don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I can think of a couple times I wish I had done just that.” Her voice went a little wistful, and (Y/N) wondered what instances was thinking about. “Anyway! I’ve volunteered to help you train, so we better get to know each other over the next week or two, right?”

“Yeah, should be fun.” The younger of the two smiled, and Black Widow began to walk away, presumably back to her room, or maybe the gym. “Wait, Miss Romanoff - Black Widow!” The redhead turned.

“Just call me Natasha. Nat, if you’d like.”

“Okay - well - I wanted to say thank you. For volunteering to help me.”

“It’s fine.” Nat smiled warmly. “I’m sure we’ll have fun together.” She turned and continued her walk down the hall after giving (Y/N) a small wave. “See you around.”

The elevator dinged. “I see you’ve properly met Natasha.” Mr. Stark’s voice rang out in the room against the quiet jazz music that (Y/N) hadn’t noticed playing in the background.

“Yeah. She’s nice.”

“She is. Oh, yeah, I’ve booked you in for another doctor’s appointment later in the evening. Your previous doctors apologise profusely for not putting a cast on you, but it seems someone neglected to write it down for your treatment. That’s if you’re up to it, of course.”

“Definitely. Thanks, Mr. Stark. I’ve told my friends I broke my arm climbing out a window.”

“Good… does that sound like something you’d do though?”

“To be honest, probably.”

“Alright then, if you think that’s a good story, then we’ll go with that. Also, I’ve done what I can to take down the media images and videos, but, like I said earlier, I couldn’t do everything. You’ll still find some stuff on the internet, and people will probably be reposting and making copies et cetera. You know how it goes.”

“Thank you so much. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your generosity, honestly.”

“Don’t mention it, kid. Anyhow, what did you want to ask me?”

“Oh! Yeah. I meant to ask if there was anything I could do? Like, anything to help, or just, you know, do.”

The older man paused for a minute, thinking. “You done your homework?” (Y/N) laughed. He sounded just like a parent. 

“Yes sir.”

“Well… what time is it…” He checked his watch. “Eleven thirty. Maybe you could help Steve make lunch, or go study or something? If that isn’t too much strain on your arm?”

“Help Captain America make lunch or study? Gee, what’s a girl to choose?” Tony chuckled. 

“Alright, kid. I think he’s making chicken rolls or something. You got any allergies?”

“Nope. Caleb doesn’t either.”

“Sweet. Well, he’ll start in about half an hour, so you can just explore until then. There’s a map of the building on the ground floor I think. Nice outfit, by the way. Natasha and I thought you’d like the jacket, but Pepper was in charge of your clothes. Do you like them?”

“They’re incredible. Can you tell her I said thank you?”

“You can tell her yourself. She’s probably here to try and get me to take a nap.” He met eyes with Pepper as she walked into the room.

“Thank me for what?”

“Miss Potts! Hi!” (Y/N) breathed. The other ginger woman was looking stunning in a white jacket and dark blue pencil skirt. “I was, um, wanting to say thank you for my wardrobe. And for letting me and Caleb stay in your house.” She ducked her head, embarrassed as Tony looked on. As (Y/N) met eyes with Pepper, the older woman smiled with a welcoming grin. 

“You are so welcome, honey. To be honest, when Tony put me in charge of your wardrobe I was really excited. I had a look to kind of see what your style was. Did I get it right?”

“Completely. I love it.” 

Pepper passed her gaze over (Y/N)’s outfit. “You look stunning. The black really suits you.”

“I love the boots.”

“So do I! When I first saw them I knew you’d like them. Does your brother like his clothes too?”

“I haven’t asked, but I’m pretty sure he does. I’ll make sure that he thanks you. Both of you.” (Y/N) gestured to Mr. Stark as well. 

“Oh, yes, Tony, hun. What time did you get to bed last night?”

“Pep, we talked about this earlier. I didn’t, remember?”

“Another all nighter, Tony? Really?” (Y/N) ducked out of the room and went back down the hall. 

“Caleb? I’m gonna explore. You can too, if you want, Mr. Stark said. There’s a map on the ground floor.”

“Alright.”

“See you around.” Excitement laced the girl’s words. She was just given pretty much free reign to go where she wanted in one of the most famous buildings in the country. Jogging to the elevator, (Y/N) pressed the button for the ground floor and waited impatiently. At the bottom, she strode out the door, ready for a small adventure - and slammed right into Captain America, falling down with a small ‘sorry’.

“Woah! Are you alright?” He exclaimed, reaching out a hand to help her up. She took his warm hand in hers and pulled her up with no trouble at all. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.” She dusted off her pants. Not that there was any dust on the immaculate floor, but, you know. “I’m gonna help you make lunch, apparently. Mr. Stark told me I could explore meanwhile.”

“Sweet, thanks! I was just going to my room to do a couple things, then I’m going to the kitchen. Have fun exploring, I’ll see you later.” He moved past her with a smile and walked into the elevator, giving her a small wave as the door closed.

“Sorry for bumping into you!” She called, then turned to what looked like the map. It was on a screen, of course, and showed each level that you could choose, including some levels below ground that were labelled as ‘Arc Reactor’. She clicked on the level that she was on; the ground floor. It gave a detailed map of the lobby area, with an area that showed Tony’s workshop garage as gray, along with another area that was presumably for the Avengers or just Tony as it was labelled as ‘private area’.

(Y/N) clicked on it. A pop up came up on the screen asking for identification. There was text saying ‘place your face in the center of the camera’ as her own reflection came up on screen. She did as it was instructing, and the screen flashed green before it showed her a three dimensional map of the area. It contained a cosy workspace, with many computers and a lounge area with a small kitchen. Pieces of tech and piles of paper were scattered all over the room.  _ Private research space, maybe?  _ She clicked on the next floor. 

  
  
  


Floors one to seventy-eight contained everything needed for Stark Industries to run, like board rooms, labs, research areas, and testing areas. Tony’s office was next to Pepper’s on floor 78. Finally, she found the floors that she wanted to explore - everything above floor seventy-eight were to do with the Avengers and Tony Stark. Tony’s workshop was the entirety of floor seventy-nine, where (Y/N) presumed he worked on his suit design and other pieces of technology needed by the Avengers and other companies. 

The floor above, floor eighty, was Tony and Pepper’s apartment - the device once again asked for identification, but (Y/N) assumed that it would only let Tony or Pepper see what was in it, as the screen ended up flashing red when she lined her face up with the camera. The next floor up contained a landing pad for helicopters or aircraft, as well as the machine she had seen on that first night that removes the Iron suit.

The next twelve floors were for accommodation, leisure, and training. The top floor was the lounge and kitchen area, with a singular meeting room and guest accommodation. The gym was also on that level, just down another hallway from the lounge. The next floor down was Thor’s, and it had a large balcony for what (Y/N) guessed to be Thor’s taking off and landing spots. 

Floor ninety-one was captain America’s, then Hawkeye’s, then Natasha’s, and the next was Doctor Banner’s. Floor eighty-seven had rooms for Scarlet Witch, Vision, and a guy called Bucky who’s name sounded vaguely familiar to (Y/N). She assumed those three weren’t really that regular in staying at Stark Industries, or they would probably have a floor each, but they frequented the place regularly enough to have specialised rooms for them.

All the floors between eight-seven and eighty were dedicated to training and leisure, with a pool, private theatre, second gym, a larger kitchen, another accommodation level, and a medical centre. The whole process of looking at all the levels on the map took around twenty minutes. (Y/N) grinned at the prospect of exploring all of it, and decided to start with Tony’s workshop after lunch.  _ Am I allowed to go in there, though? I’ll have to ask Mr. Stark later if I can.  _

She checked the time.  _ Shit, Captain America’s probably started making lunch. Better haul ass up there.  _ She did so, and found Captain America, Black Widow, Ant-Man and Doctor Banner all in common area talking. Steve was using the smaller kitchen to butter a large stack of rolls, and looked up as the elevator dinged. 

“Oh! Hello again.” He smiled. “Did you explore at all?”

“Well, I had a look at the map, but didn’t quite get enough time to explore anything yet. After lunch I will, though.”

“Well-” Natasha spoke up from her couch where she had paused the conversation. “Feel free to come into my room whenever. All free for exploration.” 

“I would offer for you to do the same with my room, but I don’t actually have one here. Yet.” Scott laughed. 

“So, (Y/N), I see fighting your first supervillain hasn’t been very rewarding yet.” Doctor Banner commented (not unkindly), gesturing to her arm. 

“Tell me about it.” (Y/N) rolled her eyes with a chuckle. “It’ll take a couple weeks to heal, apparently. So I’ll be hanging out with you until it does, so I think you’re stuck with me for a while then.” She moved into the kitchen and began to add food to the rolls with one hand. There were a lot, but she supposed there were about ten people eating, and seven of them were men with extremely healthy appetites, and impressive stature. 

It was at that moment that one of those men walked in. The banter stopped. It was Loki, still standing in a dark suit with a scowl engraved upon his handsome features. His eyes briefly ghosted over (Y/N) as he scanned the room. 

“Can one of you perhaps tell me where my brother is? I must speak with him.”

It was Captain America that replied. “Last I saw him he was eating a pop tart in the other kitchen. Try a couple of floors down.”

“Thank you.” He turned with a sharp click of polished shoes on marble and strode away to another elevator.

“He kind of scares me, to be perfectly honest.” Scott said cautiously once Loki had disappeared out of earshot. The others agreed. (Y/N) stayed silent. She had seen a strange sort of interest in his eyes as they passed over her, a sort of intensity in his green gaze. She was sort of intrigued by the mysterious, otherworldly man, the so-called god of mischief and lies.  _ I’ll have to watch out for him if his title tells the truth. _

The Avengers didn’t have lunch together, instead; those that were in the common room ate there while Steve and (Y/N) took lunch to the other Avengers. (Y/N) searched, but Loki was nowhere to be found, not even with his brother who was, indeed, in the larger kitchen examining all of the utensils. As she approached him, he gave a bright smile and gratefully took the plate meant for him. 

“Thank you kindly, milady. Is that for my brother, perhaps?” He gestured to the other plate. 

“Yeah. Have you seen him?”

“He came by a little while ago to speak with me. I think he headed back to his quarters.”

“On the same floor as you?”

“Certainly. Good luck drawing him out of his room though, he seems to be in a rather foul mood. He didn’t exactly come here, to Midgard, willingly.”

“Okay. Well, I’ll see you around, Thor.” 

“Indeed, Lady (Y/N).” She wandered back to the elevators, pressing the button for floor ninety-two and waiting, plate in hand. As (Y/N) was in the lift, she asked for Friday, assuming that the A.I. was implanted into most, if not all, places in the large building. As she expected, the robot replied.

“Good afternoon, (Y/N). Did you need me?”

“Yeah, hi, just wondering if you could direct me to Loki’s room?”

“Certainly. What do you need him for?”

“Lunch. I’ve got his, and wanted to deliver it to him.”

“I see. Well, if you turn down the hallway to your right as you step out, and carry on until the end, you should get to his door.”

“Thanks, Friday. El, are you documenting this? Can you build a direction map, please?”

“You’re welcome.” Friday replied, before shutting off.

“I’ve already mapped out the floors and areas you’ve been on, (Y/N).”

“Thanks.” (Y/N) wandered out into the hallway, plate still in hand. She did as the A.I. had directed and followed the short hallway to the end. She knocked on the door. There was, of course, no answer.  _ Okay… maybe he’s somewhere else? _ She put her hand gently on the handle. It turned, and the door opened silently. (Y/N) stood there for a moment before curiosity got the better of her and she pushed it open further. 

It was dark inside, and she stepped in and looked around. A dark, ornate bed with carved snakes around the bedposts lay in the center of the room against one of the walls. The carpet and curtains were a dark, rich, velvety green, and none of the lights were on. She walked in further and set the plate on the dresser.  _ I feel like I’m trespassing here. _ Before she could turn and walk out again, a blur moved from the corner of her eye and she was pinned against the wall with a yelp. 

It was Loki, of course, with his forearm pressed roughly against her collarbone.

“What the hell?” She gasped as his eyes swept over her face, and he released her with a sheepish look.

“I’m sorry. I thought you were… someone else. An intruder, perhaps.”

She glared. “I did knock.”

“I did not hear.”

“Okay… Well, I brought you food.” Loki’s eyes, shrouded in shadow, flickered to the plate she had set down and back before he seemed to recognise the proximity of space between them and took a step back.

“Thank you. You may go.”

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t dismiss me like a servant, but okay.” She turned tail and was about to stride out of the room, a little annoyed by the man’s obnoxious demeanour, when Loki stopped her with a quiet ‘wait’. She faced him again.

“I’m sorry for acting so obnoxiously. I am not yet used to the Midgard way of things.” His eyes were downcast. “I apologise for any offence I have caused.”

The corners of (Y/N)’s mouth quirked up into a small smile. “It’s alright. I’m new here too, so we can both count it as a new experience.”

“You have not been here before? Is this to do with your injury?”

“Yes, actually. I’m the newly found ‘hero’.

“Ah yes. And what do you do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your power.”

“Oh, I don’t have one. Just me and my suit.”

“And your suit, does it give you powers?”

“Sort of, I guess. I can fly for a few minutes with it, and jump from high up without pain. I can also shoot webs like Spider-Man.”

“The spider child. I see. What else?”

“It’s just kind of my weapons from there. I design and develop all of my tech by myself.”

“So you are smart, like Stark.”

(Y/N) smiled at the compliment, shaking her head. “Not quite that smart, I think. But anyway, what do you do? You are the god of mischief and lies, are you not?”

A smile played across Loki’s thin lips. “I see you’ve been doing your research… what else do you know about me, pet?”

(Y/N) didn’t appreciate the silly name but didn’t comment, instead recalled what Natasha had told her in a conversation over lunch earlier. “You can make magic, right?”

Loki’s smile grew. “Very good. Would you like a small show?” Intrigued, she nodded. He picked up one of the rolls and held it up in a pale hand. “Observe.” Small wisps of green light enveloped the food and it transformed into a perfect red apple, perched between his long fingers. (Y/N) watched, mesmerised, as it was lifted to his lips and he took a bite, chewed, and swallowed.

“Oh.”

“Would you like one, pet?” She quickly shook her head. Although the man was mysterious and somewhat intriguing, she didn’t exactly trust him. “Suit yourself.” In a few swift bites, the apple was gone. 

“Alright. Well, I should probably get going… thanks for showing me that. It’s very cool.”

“Indeed.” He stepped back out of her way, and as she walked out of the room, she felt his eyes on her the whole way.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I’ve had an idea. The fic is going really slowly at the moment so I was thinking I could maybe bang out a few oneshots and post those as a separate thing on my account? Lemme know if you guys would like that in the comments, that would be awesome (oneshots are pretty quick to write I think, at least quicker than writing a chapter for my fic. Of course I would be writing this fic as I write out the oneshots, but the oneshots would be just to keep you guys happy) also if you have any ideas you’d wanna see for oneshots then send em in, I’ll probably accept most things :)

WARNING: ABUSE

(Y/N) spent the rest of the day exploring Stark Industries, coming across various Avengers along the way. She did venture into Natasha’s room briefly, but she wasn’t there and (Y/N) didn’t want to intrude, instead thought that she could go back in later. From what she had seen, Natasha’s room was gorgeous - a red and white theme dominated the room, and everything was neat and tidy. None of Black Widow’s gear was visible, and (Y/N) guessed that she preferred to be discreet when it came to her alias.

  
  
  


She didn’t go into any of the other Avenger’s rooms, but still explored all the floors. Tony’s workshop was particularly interesting, although she didn’t touch anything at risk of damaging it. At around five, Mr. Stark summoned her via Friday and she was transported by Happy to the doctor’s, and he gave her a pale blue cast. When she returned to the Avengers facility, (Y/N) was greeted by a small group of the Avengers with pens, ready to sign her cast. She was embarrassed by the attention but complied willingly, and eventually collected signatures from Tony, Steve, Nat, Bruce, Clint, and Scott. Thor walked in a few minutes later and wanted to join in, scrawling his name messily on her forearm. Loki stayed in his room.

All in all, (Y/N) was surprised how quickly she had been accepted into the team, and felt a warm glow in her chest at the thought of having a home away from home, another, better family. Her brother got to meet all the Avengers that were there over dinner, which consisted of around twenty pizzas between them, and (Y/N) enjoyed watching Caleb fanboy over Captain America. That night, before bed, Caleb came into her room.

“Thank you for being so cool. I just met half the Avengers!”

“I know you did! Who’s your favourite?”

“I was going to say Captain America, but I really like Thor. Did you say he has a brother?”

“Yeah, but he wasn’t there. Mind you, I should probably take some leftover pizza to him. I’ll be back in a minute.” (Y/N) left the room and went back to the kitchen, where nobody had bothered to clean up.  _ I don’t know which one he’d like… I’ll take some of each.  _ As she waited for the pizza to reheat in the microwave, she wondered how Peter was doing. She tugged her phone out of her back pocket and checked messages and the group chat. He hadn’t texted, but MJ and Ned both had asked her how she was doing with her arm. She sent a photo quickly with a picture of her cast, saying how the Avengers had signed it, then took the pizza out of the microwave.

The plate was hot and she rushed it down to Loki’s floor, stepping quickly out of the elevator. She bumped into Thor on her way there.

“Ah! Lady (Y/N). Is that for Loki?”

“Yeah. Has he already eaten?” Thor frowned. 

“I don’t believe so. He won’t answer when I knock on his door, so I’m not entirely sure what he’s up to.”

“Okay. I’ll see if I can get him to eat.” Thor nodded graciously, moving his large stature out of her way so she could continue. When she reached Loki’s door, she knocked cautiously.

“Not in the mood, brother.” Loki’s smooth voice called out from behind the door. 

“Actually, it’s (Y/N). I’m bringing you food, again.” The door unlocked and swung open, revealing the god lying stretched luxuriously across his dark bed. 

“Greetings, again.” He beckoned and she moved forward, passing him the plate. Loki swung his long legs over the side of the bed and set the plate down on the bedside table, only glancing briefly at the reheated pizza. 

“Have you been outside today?” (Y/N) asked. She hadn’t seen him outside of his room except for this morning, when he was going in for the first time. Loki tsked with a roll of his eyes.

“If I could, I would. But I appear to be confined to this building, I suppose in the case that I make an attempt to escape.”

“Would you?”

“Perhaps.”

“Why?”

“I would much rather be on Asgard than this planet you call home… I was brought here against my will, as you probably know already. And to get back to Asgard, I must use the Tesseract, which is somewhere outside of my confines.”

“Is it really so bad here? You haven’t seen anything there is to see yet.”

“Mm… well, I did have… other plans, for when I got here, but they were rather unfortunately discovered and ruined, so I seem to be put on house arrest for the time being.” 

“What were your plans?”

“Irrelevant, now.” He said, with a shake of his head. Something dark loomed behind his eyes as they met hers, and (Y/N) took that as her cue to take it no further. “Well, thank you again for the…” His nose wrinkled slightly at the pizza, but he carefully smoothed his face over again. “Food. But I am afraid I have business to attend to, and I’m sure you must be feeling tired. It is 10pm.” She got the message, not commenting on the fact that she usually fell asleep at around two or three in the morning.

“Okay. Goodnight.”

“Farewell.”

Before she left, she turned back around abruptly. “Hey, do you want to sign my cast?”

“Is that the thing on your arm? I did notice that the other Midgardians had written on it, including my brother.”

“Yeah.” Loki wondered for a moment if he should humour her, then decided that he just couldn’t be bothered.

“Perhaps another time. Thank you for offering, though.” She tried not to be disappointed by Loki’s refusal, and nodded quickly.

“Okay. That’s fine. I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess. Though I do have school.”

“Oh yes, your schooling. It is seen as important on this planet, is it not?”

“Yeah. Pretty much our entire futures are based around it. Anyway, goodnight. Sleep well.”

“And you, pet.” She left, quietly shutting the door behind her. Part of her told the rest of her that the god of mischief wasn’t going to eat the pizza she had given him any time soon.  _ More refined tastes, I’m guessing.  _ When she got back to her room, she shed her clothing and got into the pyjamas laid out on her bed. She didn’t wonder how they got there. She just climbed into bed, mindful of her cast, and fell asleep. 

Twenty minutes later, her brother woke her up. 

“What the fuck are you doing? It can’t be morning already, I’ve got my alarm on.”

“No, it’s not, but Spider-Man just woke me up outside my window. He got our rooms wrong, he’s here to see you.” He gestured behind him as (Y/N) fumbled for the light, pointing to the other teen standing behind him.

“Spidey? What are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry to wake you up, I just wanted to see how you were doing. Your brother said you would probably be awake.”

“Well, I am now.” She grumbled. Spidey cringed.

“In my defence, it’s only half past ten. You’re usually up later.”

“Yeah, well, I’m tired. Anyway, what did you say you wanted?”

“Oh. I just wanted to see how you’re doing. Settling in alright?”

“Yeah, actually. This place is amazing.” Caleb discreetly left the room as Spidey sat down at the end of the luxurious double bed. 

“I know, right? When you stay for long enough you’ll get your own room.”

“I found your room. It was locked, though.” A mischievous smile came across her face as she recalled trying to go in earlier.

“You were trying to get in?”

“You know me. Always curious.”

“Don’t you know that saying? Curiosity killed the cat, Cougar.” He used her hero name teasingly.

“So you’re saying there’s something in there that could kill me? Interesting, Spidey.”

“Maybe not kill you, but it might shock you.” He muttered, thinking of all his ‘Peter’ things decorating the room.

“I see… well anyway, caught any bad guys lately?”

“No… you?” He joked.

“I wish. But I appear to be stuck in the height of luxury with an injury.”

“Must be hard.”

“To be honest, I would rather be able to get some action.” (Y/N)’s face coloured as she realised what she had said, and Spidey laughed softly.

“Do you now?”

“No, no, I didn’t mean it!” She giggled with embarrassment. “You know what I mean.”

“Well… do you wanna go for a swing?”

“Ooh, can we?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll web you on so you don’t fall off.”

“Should I get changed?” His eyes quickly roamed over her body in the silk pyjamas before replying.

“Should be fine. Nobody will be out and about.” (Y/N) slid out of bed and padded across the carpet to the balcony, opening the sliding doors and breathing in the night air. 

“I’ll just tell Caleb quickly, hang on one sec.” She knocked on her brother’s door and went in. Her brother was watching some show on the T.V. “I’m just going out with Spidey for a while, I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay.” She slipped back into her own room and out onto the balcony, where Spidey was waiting.

“Hop on.” She complied, him easily carrying her weight with his enhanced abilities, and he webbed her arms around his chest. “Ready?”

“Yeah.” He climbed up onto the railing and leapt off. They fell for a good few seconds, (Y/N)’s stomach dropping before they caught on a web and sailed through the air. She revelled in the feeling of freedom, after having spent almost the whole day inside. The air tangled her hair, but she didn’t really care - all she wanted was to be in the moment. Then she saw it.

“Uh, Spidey? You might wanna put me down and deal with that.” She tried to point, but her arms were pinned down. “To your right. Third closest alleyway to us.”

“Oh, yeah. Hang on.” He landed on the roof of a clothing store and cut her free, helping her to the ground. “Stay here, I’ll be back in five or so minutes.” (Y/N) nodded, and watched as he swung down towards a group of four or so men harassing another shorter man. Presumably, he had done some wrong, because he was on the ground and being kicked.

As Spider-Man had said, it only took him five minutes to deal with the group and web them up. Meanwhile, (Y/N) had already called the police. As the teen watched, Spidey pulled out his phone and was about to dial the police before she called down to him. 

“Don’t bother, they’re already on their way.” 

“Thanks!” He yelled back. The two waited a few minutes for the police to arrive and take care of the rest of the problem, before he webbed his way back up to where she sat, legs dangling. “Do you wanna go yet, or stay here for a bit?”

“Can we stay, if you don’t mind?”

“Sure.” The other teen sat heavily next to her, a little out of breath from his fight. “Did you enjoy the show?”

She tilted her head to one side. “Perhaps.”

“Perhaps?”

“I mean, I could do better, but it was alright.” Mischief sparkled in her eyes and Spidey gave her a gentle shove.

“So, how does it feel to be on the media?”

“I feel… nothing, really. I mean, I’m still a little worried, but Mr. Stark took care of most of it. There isn’t really much I can do about it but be a little more careful next time.”

“Mm. I remember how cautious I was when I first started being on the media, but I got used to it after a while and now I take selfies with people pretty much daily without really worrying.”

“What if you slip up?”

“Hasn’t happened yet, and I’m hoping it won’t. I don’t want to jinx myself, though.” He smiled under the mask.  _ It’s strange, _ (Y/N) thought.  _ Talking to someone when I can’t see their face. I can’t tell what expression they’re making or anything.  _ The only indication she had of Spidey’s emotions were the eyes on the mask widening and narrowing at regular intervals and his tone of voice. To be honest, it was a little stressful not knowing if she had said something wrong.

“I’ve decided not to wear the clothes you gave me to wear anymore. In case people recognise the outfit, you know?”

“Yeah. Sorry, I should’ve thought about that. I could’ve brought some of Peter’s instead. Isn’t that jumper in your bag his?” Her face coloured a little.

“Yes…” 

Peter decided to pry a little more, just to make her slightly uncomfortable. It was cute, seeing her blush. “How’d you get it?”

“Uh… he gave it to me, I swear. I didn’t steal it.”

“Okay… but why did he give it to you?”

“I forgot something to sleep in.”

“You were sleeping at his place?”

Her face went from an embarrassed blush to confusion. “Yeah, but you already knew that though?”

“Shit. Yeah, sorry.” An awkward chuckle escaped his throat. “Anyway, do you wanna go back yet?” He noticed the goosebumps on her arms. “It’s a little cold.”

“Yeah. I’m kinda tired, too.” 

“Alright.” The two stood up and she hopped back onto his back, him once again webbing her in place. He leapt off and they swung away, lit up by the red and blue flashing police lights. 

Peter landed gently back on her balcony, and let her off his back. “Right, I think I have the right room this time.” She slid open the screen door. 

“Yeah, looks like it.”

“Okay, well, goodnight. I’ll see you tomorrow, maybe. We can go for another swing if you’d like.”

“Thanks, Spidey. That was fun.” She smiled at him, and his heart stopped as he met her eyes.  _ God, she’s gorgeous.  _ “Goodnight.”

“Night.” As he climbed back onto the railing of the balcony, she quietly slid the screen door shut behind him and collapsed on her bed with a sigh.  _ Help,  _ she thought with a groan.  _ Both Peter and Spidey are so cute… I need someone to talk to about it, I swear… maybe Nat? I don’t know if we’re there yet though. I mean, she did say we should get to know each other, but boy talk? I don’t know…  _

(Y/N) fell asleep like that, on top of the covers with her arms curled around a pillow. Ten minutes before her alarm went off, she woke up again. Sunlight was filtering through the large windows and landing perfectly on top of her, still sideways across the top of the bed clutching the pillow, now with a small patch of drool on it. She grimaced before sitting up and coughing, her throat dry as a desert from breathing through her mouth all night. Her nose was a little blocked. 

_ Oh, yeah. I have school today.  _ (Y/N) was a little disappointed - she still had stuff to see around the Avengers facility, and to be honest, she didn’t want to face her classmates pestering her to tell her how she broke her arm or perhaps asking to sign the cast.  _ Not that anyone would really want to interact with me, but still.  _

The wardrobe door stood in front of her, open, and she contemplated the interior.  _ Don’t wear anything noticeable, maybe.  _ She chose a sensible pair of white jeans and a black t-shirt with a pair of red converse. (Y/N) looked at the leather jacket. It sat there. She narrowed her eyes at it. 

  
  
  
  


“You’re too noticeable, I’m sorry. Way too expensive to wear to school.” It sat there. She looked at it. She grabbed it, put it on, and continued getting ready. By now it was 7.00, and (Y/N) was ready to go, except for breakfast. She knocked on her brother’s door. 

“Yeah.” Caleb replied. 

“You up?” She walked in. He was dressed and pretty much ready to go, lounging on the bed with his phone. 

“I’m ready. Wasn’t sure if I should get breakfast or not.” A lazy gesture with his arm was swept towards his bag, packed and ready. 

“Cool. We can probably go grab breakfast. I don’t know what they have, though.”

“(Y/N), this is a billionaire’s house. I’m sure he has anything we need.”

“Good point.” They walked to the kitchen together, Caleb gazing at the various rooms just as (Y/N) had done yesterday. Natasha was in the kitchen, gazing out the windows across the city with a cup of coffee clasped in one hand. Their eyes met, and the redhead gave her a smile.

“Morning! Do you want a coffee?”

“Yeah, that’d be great, actually. Have you eaten?”

“Not yet, no. The coffee is already in the pot.”

“Ok.”

“You’ve got to go to school today, right?”

“Unfortunately.” Her brother interjected. 

“Mm. I remember going to school very clearly, though it probably wasn’t the school you’re used to.”

“What kind of school was it?” Caleb asked.

“All of us were training to be assassins in Soviet Russia. It was a program called the Red Room.”

“Oh.” (Y/N) said.

“So, yeah, not like our schools at all.” 

“Mm.” Natasha replied.

“Hey, Caleb? What do you want for breakfast? We’ve got a choice between pancakes, waffles, bacon and eggs, or a smoothie.”

“Waffles, please.”

“Again? Really?”

“Yep.”

(Y/N) looked at Black Widow. “Do you want some?”

She smiled. “I’m technically supposed to be on a diet, but yeah, sure. Don’t tell anyone.” She winked. The waffle mixture was pre-made, so (Y/N) didn’t have to do much except cook it. As she was serving her little brother and Natasha, she heard voices, and the lift dinged. Tony, Captain America, and Thor all spilled out in a rowdy mess. 

“Good morning, Lady (Y/N).” Thor gave her a bright smile.

“I smell waffles!” Captain America called. 

“Indeed.” She replied, resigning herself to her fate of cooking a whole lot more of them. “Who wants breakfast?” All three of them confirmed that they did, and (Y/N) turned the waffle iron back on.

“Kid, Happy’s gonna drive you two to school today. Would you prefer a more inconspicuous car?”

(Y/N), who had seen the expensive car that Mr. Stark was driven around in by Happy, nodded quickly. “Yes, please.”

“Alright. I’ll tell Happy.” He quickly pulled out his phone and tapped out a text to his driver. “Done. Now, about breakfast…”

“On it.” She put more waffles on the go and the six of them quickly got a conversation going. Half an hour later, everyone had eaten, and the morning had gone well. Another ten minutes, and (Y/N), Caleb, and Happy were in the car. It was a Toyota of some kind - (Y/N) didn’t really know her way around cars, but she knew the logo, at least. The other car there was to choose was a shiny black Audi with a convertible roof. Happy didn’t really talk for the journey, just dropped them off and drove away, presumably back to the Avengers facility.

The last bell finally rang on Wednesday, and (Y/N) swung her bag onto her shoulder. Thankfully, the teachers had let her use her computer for all the class work over the last couple days, with her writing arm being kind of unusable, so it had been quick for her to do the work set in English class. Now pretty much everyone in her classes had asked about how she had munted her arm, and they now all knew the ‘story’ of how she had fallen out of her window, and she had, to her surprise, collected rather a lot of signatures on her arm. The entire Decathlon team had signed, as well as multiple of her teachers. MJ had just drawn a dick (which was as to be expected, to be honest.) on the inner and upper part of the cast instead of her name.

As she walked out of the door, ready for Happy to pick her up with Caleb In the back, as had happened for the last two days, she stopped short, scanning for the car Happy drove.  _ He must be slightly running late.  _ (Y/N) strode down the steps and out onto the main path before bumping into someone. Someone reeking of vodka and cigarette smoke.  _ Run.  _ Her instant kicked in a second too late, and a hand latched around her wrist. A small squeak escaped her lips as she met eyes with her father.

The whites of his eyes were bloodshot, but he appeared to be sober - and very, very angry.  _ Shit. Should I call for help? Wait, no, I can’t.  _ Trying helplessly to tug free, Adam grasped her arm tighter before listening down to whisper menacingly in her ear. 

“You’re coming home with me, then we’re gonna have a little chat, you hear me?” (Y/N)’s bottom lip trembled and she looked around frantically. Happy still wasn’t there, and there were only a few students minding their own business. Blinking back tears, she nodded, and Adam began to tow her towards his busted up car.  _ Oh god oh fuck oh fuck he’s mad.  _ Her eyes searched haphazardly for any escape, but she could see none, only the ugly car that she was stumbling towards.

Adam opened the passenger seat door for her, which would have seemed like a nice gesture despite the circumstances, and pushed her inside like a cop would do to a criminal, buckling her in and slamming the door behind her before swiftly moving around the car to get in the driver’s seat and locking the doors. (Y/N) tried to control her breathing, but in reality she was terrified - she had never seen her father this angry before. The car ride was silent except for his harsh breathing and her quick, scared breaths. 

From time to time she glanced at Adam. He had his eyes fixed on the road, his hands trembling on the wheel, face red and veins bulging grotesquely in his neck. They reached their apartment and more dread pooled in her stomach as the car came to a halt. 

“Don’t you fucking dare move, you got it?” Adam said before getting out the driver’s side and striding around to her side, opening her door and pulling her out roughly. 

“Please don’t do this, you don’t need to do this,” (Y/N) chanted as he towed her through the door and up to their apartment. The door shut with a menacing click behind them and immediately (Y/N) found herself pinned against the wall by her father’s forearm, choking her.

“Care to explain where the fuck you’ve been for the last five days? Or would you rather I beat it out of you?” He sneered, spittle flying into her face. She choked, coughing for a couple seconds before Adam released a little pressure on her neck. 

“Staying with a friend, I was just staying with a friend!”

“Oh yeah? Which friend?” 

“I- I can’t tell you,” Tears began to run down her face. The back of his hand connected with her cheek and her head slammed to the side, hurting her neck in the process.

“Was it a guy? Were you being a slut so you could stay with him, hmm? You don’t have friends. You don’t have money. How were you paying? With yourself? Your body?”

“No, I was just staying with-” She cut herself off from putting Peter in danger. “A friend. I can’t tell you more, I’m sorry-”

“You  _ were _ whoring around, weren’t you, you little slut?” His hand connected with her face again and she felt her nose crack, blood flowing down into her mouth and mixing with her tears.

“No! No, I wasn’t, I swear!” This was the first time Adam had ever suggested that she was sleeping with people for money or housing, and she had no idea where it was coming from. Maybe he had just wanted another reason to believe that she was unworthy of love, and maybe she was, maybe she was just a stupid little slut, maybe she only wanted to stay over at Peter’s because she wanted him, she could’ve stayed at MJ’s, but it had to be Peter’s, didn’t it- Her self-deprecating thoughts were interrupted by Adam shoving his face back in hers. 

“Did he hurt you? Is that why your arm is broken?” He grabbed her cast in a crushing grip and twisted her arm around, digging his fingers in and making her cry out in pain. “What’d you do? Being a stupid little whore… I’m not surprised, to be perfectly honest…” 

“Don’t do that! I just broke it and they gave me a cast, I fell out a window, I know I’m stupid, I know…” (Y/N) sobbed. Her shoulders were hurting from being pushed into the wall so hard, her father was leaning against her heavily, pressing his whole weight into her now.    
  


“Stupid little bitch… why’d you run, huh? Leave me to do all the stuff around the house alone, you ungrateful little shit!” (Y/N) saw a flash of metal and her heart stopped. From his pocket, Adam had pulled out a small, sharp screwdriver and had it held up threateningly to her face. “Bet those guys you’re fucking won’t think you’re so pretty with a couple scars. What do you think? A missing eye, maybe? An ear? A nice little scar down the side of your face? The middle, maybe?” She whimpered as he traced the cool metal around the said parts of her face, digging it in in some parts. 

“Please, no…” Her voice was a whisper as her mind frantically ran through all the defence mechanisms she had available. The answer was: not many. With her good arm in a cast and being pressed up against a wall by a man with a sharp screwdriver… her options were limited.  _ Surely… surely he won’t… he’s my dad…  _ As these thoughts ran through her mind, the pressure on her collarbone was relieved as Adam took a step back. 

“You gonna answer my question,  _ honey? _ ” His mouth was puckered into a sneer and his voice full of sickeningly sweet sarcasm as he tapped the screwdriver against her neck. 

“I thought… I thought you’d be mad…” Her voice was a tremble. Adam barked a harsh laugh.

“And do I look angry? Do I look  _ mad _ ? Because personally, I think that’s an understatement…” (Y/N) looked at him with a terrified gaze, her eyes flickering back and forth over his face.  _ Does he want me to answer that? _ Adam fake lunged towards her with a snarl. 

“Go on! How mad do I look?” She yelped and dodged the screwdriver, which came alarmingly close to her neck. “Don’t fucking move! You aren’t going anywhere, you little bitch.”  _ Oh fuck, oh fuck, what do I do? _ She had trained herself for fights like these for years and part of her brain knew that she could easily overpower him, but it was the suit, the suit gave her confidence - and whenever she was around Adam her brain went into flight not fight, all her senses dullened and her fighting abilities went out the window. She froze as Adam moved towards her, a snarl implanted onto his facial features, gripping the screwdriver. She looked at the door, calculating. Her father lunged. 

She dodged his wild swipe, leaping over his arm and running towards the door, frantically trying to unlock it. Having her suit would have been helpful, but she had to try and get out anyway, but Adam wasn’t having any of it - he took another wild swipe at her back and caught her with the metal. It dug into her side then dragged downwards, the side of her stomach opened and blood began to pour out. (Y/N) shrieked in pain, and aimed a kick at his arm, catching it with her foot and stomping it onto the ground. She heard a crack and a yell of pain as Adam’s wrist snapped, and then she was out the door, hand pressed to her side and then she was stumbling down the stairs as fast as she could, nearly falling. 

She could hear her father clattering down the stairs behind her, loud and threatening and yelling obscenities about her and what he was going to do.  _ Run, run, run.  _ Her side was burning and so was her nose but she put the pain on hold, escape was her only priority. Finally, the door, she wrenched it open and tumbled onto the street right into a couple walking with their baby. The woman shrieked in surprise and they watched her run, startled. 

(Y/N) looked back about twenty seconds later to see her father come crashing through the pair, barrelling out of the door behind her. The single thought of escape was pounding through her head, run, run, run… with Adam pounding along the sidewalk forty, fifty metres behind… She was gaining distance between them, and just like what had happened only five days ago, she turned into the alleyway and scaled the ladder, her breathing laboured and blood pouring from between her hands, soaking her clothing.

She made it to the roof and didn’t stop running, taking the familiar route of her nightly patrols along the roves and not stopping even when she reached the seventh street over. Even in her pain-filled haze, she realised that she needed some way to stop the bleeding, but she didn’t have anything she could use. Part of her mind was repeating one phrase over and over again.  _ Go to Peter’s.  _ She was going to argue with it but after a minute of deliberation, there was really nothing else she could really do. 

Peter was pulling his laptop out of its case, intending to make a start on the Hamlet essay, when there was a knock at the door. Aunt May was at work, so he got up to open the door.

“Coming!” He yelled, standing up and moving to the entrance. He opened the door, and (Y/N) fell into the room. Literally. It had taken all her remaining strength to make it to Peter’s place, and she had lost a lot of blood at that point. “(Y/N)! (Y/N), can you hear me?” She could not. She was passed out, bleeding onto the floor.  _ Holy fuck holy fuck what do I do what happened? _ Peter quickly lifted her shirt and his eyes fell upon her injury, his mouth falling open in shock.  _ Okay, okay, stop the bleeding.  _ A few minutes later, he had her on the kitchen tiles, applying pressure to the wound. Blood was covering his hands as he tugged out his phone and dialed the first number on his phone.

“Mr. Stark? I really need your help.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, I ticked posting this off my to-do list so I thought I’d done it! Here’s the promised chapter

Tony had just come off the phone from Happy, who was informing him that (Y/N) was nowhere to be found, but he had Caleb. Caleb had tried to reach (Y/N), but her phone was going to voicemail. Caleb himself was worried for her - she would always inform him where she was going and for how long. Tony had told them not to worry, she’d turn up somewhere. Mr. Stark picked up his phone almost immediately after he put it down, but he was used to it by now - he was a very busy man, after all. What he wasn’t used to was Peter’s contact coming up on his screen. 

He rolled his eyes and nearly put the phone down - he had told Peter to call Happy when he needed to, but part of him made him pick up the phone and postpone what he was doing, which was, at that time, making his way to a meeting.

“Yes, Peter? Can we make this quick? I’ve got a meeting I need to go to-”

“Mr. Stark? I really need your help.” Something in his voice made Tony pause.

“Yeah?”

“Um, so, at the moment (Y/N) is bleeding heavily onto my kitchen floor and I don’t know what to do-”

“Kid, I’m on my way. Apply pressure to the wound.” He hung up and called Happy immediately, speeding up to a jog. Happy picked up. Tony told him the address of Peter’s house, told him to go quickly and leave Caleb in the car, and waited impatiently for the lift. Tony jumped into his Audi parked in the garage as Pepper strode into the room. 

“Where do you think you’re going? You have a meeting!”

“An emergency has come up, I gotta go. I’ll see you later.”

Pepper threw up her hands in exasperation. “What am I supposed to tell them?” 

“You’ll think of something. You’re smart.” Tony called as he made a speedy reverse out of the drive.

Peter, meanwhile, was panicking loudly.  _ Why is she bleeding so much? How long has she been like this? What the hell am I supposed to do until Mr. Stark gets here? Alright, alright, just keep applying pressure, I guess… was this her dad or something? Would he go this far?  _

“Peter? You here, kid?” Mr. Stark’s voice drifted through the open door. 

“Yeah! Here, on the floor, please help.” 

“Yeah, I’m here, I’ve got you.” Mr. Stark rounded the corner of the kitchen bench and saw Peter with (Y/N) on the floor, holding her stomach together with his hands, bloody towels piled on the floor around them. Tony was followed by Happy, who grimaced and turned away when he saw the blood. Happy was not somebody with a strong stomach.

“She’s unconscious? Good, just keep her where she is.” Tony took charge immediately, setting down his emergency medical kit. “Do you know what happened?”

“No, she just turned up like this and passed out, she’s been here for like five or ten minutes.” 

“Alright. Well, I’m sure she’ll tell us when she wakes up. She’ll be fine, kid, good job.” Peter lingered uncertainly by her side as Tony got out a needle and thread. “You go wash off, I can deal with this.” He hesitated a moment before lifting (Y/N)’s shirt up and threading the needle, beginning to stitch (Y/N)’s side back together, wiping his hands on a towel every so often. The myriad of bruises on her abdomen made him blink, and he packed away a question for a more appropriate time. It only took him five or so minutes to stitch her up, and when he was done, he let out a long sigh. “Been in the wars lately, haven’t you, kid?” Tony murmured, packing a clean towel under her head as a pillow. “Happy?”

“Yes, Mr. Stark?” The voice came from another room entirely, where Happy had retreated so that he wouldn’t have to see the blood. “We’re gonna need you to drive her back home. Peter, can you grab some more towels or something to put on the back seat?”

“On it, Mr. Stark.” Peter moved away to find some more towels, grimacing at the task he had ahead of cleaning the blood off everything before Aunt May got home. The question he had earlier circled his mind.  _ What if it was him? Her father? _ Dragging some more towels out of a bathroom cupboard and bundling them up, Peter dumped them in Happy’s arms as the large man tried his best not to look at (Y/N).

Tony rolled his eyes and stood up. “Right, Happy, go put those in the car. Lay them out on the back seat and get Caleb in the front with you. Make sure there isn’t anyone in the hallways or watching us get her out, alright? Kid, you can ride with me.”

“Okay, Mr. Stark, but I need to clean up a bit first.” Peter told him, bundling the blood-soaked towels and bringing them to the washing machine.  _ Well, I hope the blood comes out.  _ There wasn’t much more he could do in the short amount of time except for giving the kitchen floor a quick mop around where (Y/N) lay and trying his best to clean the blood off her skin and pulling her shirt back down as Mr. Stark washed his hands. 

Happy came back into the room, visibly relieved at the lack of blood on scene. “All clear, Mr. Stark. Her brother’s a little worried, would you rather I put the divider up so he can’t see her?”

“That’d probably be for the best. Peter, you’re coming in my car. Let’s go.” Tony hoisted (Y/N) up, carrying her like a child in his arms as they moved out of the building and down the stairs. She was dumped unceremoniously in the back seat of the car while Peter looked furtively around. As soon as Caleb saw the foursome coming out of the building, his eyes went wide and he tried to get out of the car. Happy said nothing, just locked the door. Caleb was left jiggling the door handle and banging on the window, yelling something about letting him out. 

Once (Y/N) was on the back seat and Tony and Peter were walking back to Tony’s car, Happy got in the driver’s seat. Immediately Caleb turned to him angrily.

“What the hell, man? Is she alright?” 

“She’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

“Do you know what the hell happened?”

“Not yet, but she does. She’s unconscious, though.”

“Well can I get in the back with her?”

“Nope.” They were silent for the rest of the ride, their car following Tony’s along the roads on the way. In Tony’s Audi Peter was suspiciously quiet and seemed to be debating something. Tony looked at him every now and then and finally got too curious. 

“What’s up, kid?”

Peter looked startled and shook his head quickly. “Nothing, nothing, I’m just… just thinking.”

“Something’s up, I can tell. Is it something to do with (Y/N)?” Silence. “Do you know what happened?” Silence.

“I will stop the car. What happened?”

“I, um. I don’t know if I should really tell you…” Peter trailed off. 

“It sounds kinda important, but if you really don’t want to tell me, that’s fine. Just know that if it does have something to do with (Y/N), and if she’s in danger, it would be better to tell me now so I can do something about it.” The man knew exactly what he was doing. Peter knew something he didn’t and Tony was determined to know what it was. There was silence in the car as Peter weighed up his options. 

  
  


_ She’d be mad. She’d be really mad. I promised not to tell anyone, but what if it was him? What if he does worse next time? What if… what if she dies?  _ He chewed on his lip, looking out the window.  _ Mr. Stark would do something about it, he’d be able to do something about it… I just don’t know how mad she’d be. What if it all turns to shit and he gets a hold on Caleb, just like she said? She’d hate me forever if her brother got hurt… she’d probably hate me regardless of if her brother got hurt, though. But… if she gets hurt again, if she dies, I’d be the one to blame for not doing anything about it. It would be my fault. _

Peter let out a slow breath as he realised what he had to do, rubbing his forehead.  _ I gotta tell him. I have to do it.  _ Part of him was telling him not to, that he wasn’t sure if it was actually her dad who had hurt her, that she would hate him, but a larger part of him was almost certain what had happened was due to her father, and he had to tell Mr. Stark before she got hurt even worse.

“Actually, Mr. Stark, there is kinda something.”

“I’m listening.”

“Her dad… uh, he sorta…” He released a shaky breath before continuing. “He hurts her. And she never told anyone about it, I don’t think, and it’s been happening for around two years now. Since her mum died. She’s scared that he’ll hurt her brother if she tells anyone, and I kinda found out on accident, and now she’s gonna be really mad that I told you about it, but I’m scared she’s gonna get hurt more. And I don’t have any proof but I think he did that to her.” Peter traced his finger over his stomach as a way of gesturing (Y/N)’s wound before looking at Mr. Stark. 

The older man had his hands wrapped tight around the wheel, knuckles white and eyes fixed on the road in fuming rage. “You think he did that to her?” His voice was quiet and filled with seething anger.

“Yes.”

“I’m gonna fucking kill him. When I get my hands on him I’m gonna-” Tony took his hands off the wheel to make a violent motion with his hands. They pulled into the garage and Tony immediately got out of the car. Peter sat there for a moment before getting out too. Caleb and Happy pulled in next to them.

“Hey, kid?” Tony asked Caleb. “Would you mind going to your room? You’ll be able to see her later, I promise.”

Caleb looked like her was about to protest before shutting his mouth and nodding in silence, walking to the elevator. As soon as he was gone, Happy opened the back door and they all gazed in at (Y/N), who seemed to be resting fairly easily despite the car ride. Tony reached in and got her out gently. 

“The bleeding has stopped. That’s good, at least.” Again, he pulled her into his arms. “Thanks, Happy. You can go now.”

“Yes boss.” As Tony turned around to get to the elevator, he was met by Loki standing there with a condescending look upon his face. That look changed to something Tony would have called concern if he thought Loki was capable of feeling such an emotion. 

“What has happened here? Did you do this, Stark?”

“What - No! Why the hell would I hurt her - hey!” The shorter man protested and Loki carefully but assertively took (Y/N) out of his arms. Peter stood watching, a little concerned as the tall, slender man, usually so cold, carried (Y/N) gently to the lift, Tony trailing behind in annoyance. Peter followed in silence.

When the lift stopped on Loki’s floor, Tony frowned. “Why are we stopping here? She has her own room, you know.”

“I am aware. But she needs rest, and nobody would dare to intrude upon my room.” One of his pale fingers brushed a strand of hair off (Y/N)’s face. 

“Exactly! We need to check on her, and who knows what kind of shit goes down in your room?”

“Not without my permission. And no ‘shit will go down’, as you so crudely put it. I would never do anything to her, do you understand me?” Tony was powerless to stop the god of mischief as he marched determinedly down the hallway to his room, and instead trailed him in silence next to Peter.

“Stark, open the door, please.” Loki waited impatiently for him to open the door and let them into the room, where he promptly laid (Y/N) on the large bed and sat by her side to examine her wound. Peter looked around in awe of his surroundings. The room truly looked otherworldly. Loki spoke without looking up. “Adequate job with the stitching, Stark. I could do better, but I suppose it will do.” Tony snorted. 

“Pete, stay here. I got some important shit to do.” Tony left with only one backwards glance. “Keep an eye on her. And him.”

“Yes, Mr. Stark.” As soon as Tony had walked out of the room, Loki spoke up again. 

“You may leave, child. She’s safe with me here.”

“Sorry, Mr… Mr Loki, sir, but I’d prefer to stay with her if that’s alright.” The pair of piercing green eyes met Peter’s brown ones before sliding slowly up and down him, as if Loki was evaluating him. 

“You… are the spider child, are you not?”

“Yeah.”

“And what is your connection to (Y/N)?”

“She’s, um… a friend. But she doesn’t know that I’m, you know. Spider-Man.”

“I see.” Amusement glimmered in Loki’s eyes. “You may stay. But - sit in this chair only, and don’t you dare touch a thing, do you understand me?”

“Crystal clear, Mr Loki.” To be honest, Peter was just happy that the god of mischief had allowed him to stay at all, though he wasn’t even sure if he wanted to be there. Loki scared him a little, but (Y/N) seemed to have made friends with him, judging by Loki’s possessiveness over her. Peter sat down in the chair that was presented to him, as Loki continued to examine (Y/N)’s wound. 

“Hm… it will scar, I suppose. I may be able to speed the healing process, but it may take some time.” He was murmuring to himself as Peter watched in silence, then brought his hands to her side and traced his fingers up her scar for a few seconds. His digits left a small trail of pale green wisps along the stitches, which disappeared after only a moment, so quickly that Peter wasn’t sure if he had seen them or not. He still stood up in protest. 

“What was that? What did you do to her?”

Loki’s expression turned condescending once again and he sneered at Peter. “Sit down. I am merely evaluating the wound and seeing what I can do to help, which isn’t much, but it’s something. Better than what anyone else in this building can do, which is nothing.” Peter sat down again, eyebrows drawn together in a frown. Loki made him suspicious, and he wanted to make sure (Y/N) was completely safe before leaving.  _ I guess I could ask Mr. Stark to get some security cameras in here, if there aren’t already. _

Another minute or so went by, before Loki shut his eyes and placed his thumbs on opposite ends of her wound. The small wisps of light Peter had seen began to seemingly soak into her skin before Loki inhaled sharply and snatched his hands away, blinking rapidly. 

“What happened?”

“Nothing. It is just more difficult for me to use my magic on others rather than myself. There will still be a scar, and some pain, but it will heal at perhaps twice the speed it usually would.”

“Oh.” Peter said. Loki sat back with a sigh. 

“She should wake in about two hour’s time. Possibly sooner. If you can bother to wait that long, feel free, but I will be in my library. Do not disturb me, or you may suffer some consequences.” The tall, otherworldly man left the room with a disdainful look and a theatrical swish of clothing. Peter watched him go, then scooted closer to the bed on his chair, picking up (Y/N)’s hand.

“I know you’re gonna be mad when you wake up, and I’m sorry, but I need to keep you safe. Please just… forgive me when you wake up, alright? Your brother is safe, everyone is fine.” He sighed and dropped her hand, leaning back on his chair and rubbing a hand over his face. “Please don’t be too mad when you find out what I did.”

An hour and a half later, Peter was asleep on the chair after texting Aunt May saying that he’d be home that night and that she shouldn’t worry about him. (Y/N)’s eyes cracked open and she shifted, coughing at the taste of blood in her mouth. Peter startled and jumped up as (Y/N) sat upright, wiping her mouth on her arm. 

“I feel like shit.” She croaked. Peter smiled, relieved, but dreading the conversation ahead. “What’d I do? Where am I… oh. Loki’s room.”

“You want some water?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Ok. I’ll be back in a minute.” Peter left the room quietly. Once he was gone, (Y/N) lifted her shirt to inspect the damage. There were neat stitches on her side and it hurt like a bitch, but looked clean enough.  _ What… what do I say happened? I suppose Peter’s already jumped to conclusions… and he might get it right, but he has no proof, so it’s gotta be believable, I guess I could- _

Before she could think of a suitable story, Peter walked back in with a glass of water, panting a little. 

“Uhh… that was fast.”  _ Shit. _

“Yeah, I ran. So, um… what happened?”

(Y/N)’s mind went into overdrive but couldn’t think of any possible lie that Peter would believe. She took a long drink of water to delay her response. As she was drinking, Peter swallowed thickly and looked down.

“(Y/N)? I, um, I’m sorry, but I need to ask… was it your dad that did this?” He met her eyes and she choked slightly on her water, looking slightly panicky but staying silent as her mind ran in circles. “Because if it was, well…” He saw the truth in her eyes. “It was, wasn’t it? I knew… when I first saw you that was the only thing I could think about, if it was him.”

“Peter,” She said as she grabbed his wrist. “Did you tell anyone? You didn’t, did you? Please tell me you didn’t.” It was Peter’s turn to be silent as he contemplated his answer, and he looked, downcast, at their hands. 

“(Y/N), please just… don’t be angry, I just want to keep you safe.”

She dropped his hand abruptly and her breathing began to get faster. (Y/N)’s hands began to shake and her heart began to pump quicker in her chest. Peter stood as she began to hyperventilate, shaking her head in terror. 

“No, no, no, no, please, God, no, he’s going to kill me, he’s gonna hurt Caleb,” Tears began to roll down her cheeks as her breathing quickened further. “Who’d you tell?”

“(Y/N), it’s okay, Caleb is safe, calm down, please! I only told Mr. Stark, it’s fine, you’re fine!”

“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.” (Y/N) realised what was happening - she was having another panic attack. “Get out.”

“(Y/N)-”

“Get out! Go, leave!”

“But-”

“No, you don’t understand, you have to leave. Get the fuck away from me!” She began to sob and she was shaking violently at this point. Peter was honestly kind of terrified as to what she would do if he stayed, but didn’t want to leave her alone. That was the moment Loki stepped into the room.

“What on earth is all the screaming about?” His eyes travelled over (Y/N), then to Peter. “I think it’s best you leave. I can’t have you distressing my patient, now, can I?” Peter looked at odds with himself for a moment, switching his gaze between Loki and (Y/N), before deciding that it was probably for the best if he left.  _ Oh god, I made a mistake. I knew she’d be mad, but I didn’t know… I didn’t think… stupid, Peter, stupid!  _ As soon as he was out in the hallway he slid down the wall and held his head in his hands, groaning.  _ What do I do now? _

Meanwhile, (Y/N) had managed to calm down a little with the lack of Peter’s presence in the room and with the help of Loki, who had sat down on the bed and was gently rubbing her back, making soothing noises. 

“You’re alright, pet. You’re safe, I promise. Nobody will hurt you here.” The built up emotion from the abuse, the anger she felt at Peter, the constant fear, it was all pouring out. The floodgates had finally opened… and she was ashamed. Ashamed that she had put herself into this situation, ashamed that she was pretty much useless, ashamed to be crying in front of a god. (Y/N) tried to take in some breaths, but they were shuddery and she couldn’t control her emotion, so instead she curled up tighter, shielding herself from the world. Loki’s murmuring in her ear eventually pulled her back into sleep.

Eventually, at some time in the middle of the night, (Y/N) awoke again, her stomach growling. She could hear nothing except for somebody else’s light breathing in the darkness. Looking around, she spotted Loki stretched out across his dark green couch, asleep. His long legs made it so that his feet were off the edge of the couch. Quietly, she got up and stretched, wincing as her stitches pulled a little. Her bare feet made no sound on the heavily carpeted floor and (Y/N) was sure not to wake Loki as she padded past him to the door.

It was strange, wandering the Avenger’s compound at night. Everything was so quiet unlike during the day, but most of the lights were still on. The lift hummed as it took her to the floor she normally stayed on, and she stood for a moment as the doors opened, considering just going to the kitchen and back to her room.  _ But… I mean… Why should I pass up the opportunity to sleep in a god’s bed? Plus, I won’t be disturbed in Loki’s room… nobody would even dare to go in.  _

  
  
  
  


(Y/N) stepped out of the lift and wandered barefoot down the hall to the smaller kitchen. The fridge had blocks of chocolate in the door, so she grabbed one, sat down on the couch, and switched on the T.V. In the moment before it turned on, she saw her reflection in the blank screen and grimaced. Her hair was tangled and from what she could see, her face was puffy, eyes swollen from crying. (Y/N) sighed as she pulled up Netflix. A headache was pounding behind her eyes and her throat was dry - she slid off the couch and grabbed a glass of water, gulping it down while perching on the arm of the couch. 

After five minutes of pointless scrolling, (Y/N) finally settled on a trashy movie that would hopefully keep her mind off the imminent backlash she was going to get.  _ If I ignore it then I won’t stress. Focus on the movie.  _ Although she did manage to get invested in the film, (Y/N) was constantly being distracted by an anxiety stomach ache and unbidden thoughts entering her head. Picking up her phone, she typed ‘how to make myself fall asleep’ into the search bar. 

A while later, her eyelids were drooping and she was struggling to stay awake. Before she slipped into a restless sleep on the couch, she briefly considered moving back down to Loki’s room, but decided that she couldn’t be bothered. She’d just set an early alarm so she could move back to her room and lock the door and just hope nobody would be up before it went off. (Y/N) knew she looked a mess, and although Loki had already seen her in that state, she would rather nobody else see her like that.

She woke up in Loki’s room, disoriented for a few seconds before realising where she was. She tried to roll over and grimaced, feeling a twang in her side, so instead opted to flop back onto the pillows. Loki was on the couch next to the bed, gazing at her with a book in hand and a placid look on his face. “I found you upstairs. You looked uncomfortable on the couch and I assumed you would rather not be disturbed when you woke, so I brought you back down here.” (Y/N) blinked. “How is your wound?”

She tried to reply, but her throat was still dry and all that came out was a croak. Without a word, the man passed her a glass of water. After a few moments of quiet except for the noises of her gulping down the drink, (Y/N) tried again. “It’s feeling okay. Hurts a bit. What time is it?”

“12.46.”

“A.M. or P.M.?” She genuinely couldn’t tell, due to the heavy curtains across the large windows on one side of the room. 

“It’s the afternoon. I had to use some of my magic on you to help with your…” He gestured to her abdomen. “Injury. Might I ask what happened?” She shook her head, and Loki nodded with a small, contemplative noise. “I will not assume anything. Feel free to stay here as long as you should like, and if you need anything you know where I’ll be.” Loki stood up to depart into his library, but paused when he heard a quiet ‘wait’. “Yes?”

“Has anyone tried to come in?”

“Many of them. Parker, Stark, my brother, Captain America, in his silly tight suit and all, your brother, Romanoff…”

“What about Spider-Man? Has he tried to see me?” Loki looked confused for a moment, before remembering Thor saying something or another about Peter not wanting (Y/N) to know about his alter ego. He briefly considered ruining the boy’s little surprise, but thought better of it. The child, though young and eager (and slightly annoying), had slightly grown on Loki (though not as much as (Y/N) had, even in the space of a few days).

“Ah, yes, he has. My apologies. Also, I believe Parker has been waiting outside my door for some time. Would you like me to let him in?”

“Oh.” (Y/N) contemplated for a few seconds, weighing up her options. Her mind was clearer now, although even thinking about what had happened… her stomach began to roll and she leant over to the side of the bed, face going pale. Loki smoothly presented her with a bowl he had retrieved from god knows where (ha) and turned away as (Y/N) threw up into it. “Sorry.” She said weakly once it had stopped. 

“Drink some water, and I can retrieve you some food if you wish. The vomiting may be slightly my fault, a side effect of my powers, it would seem. I’ll presume you would not like any visitors, Parker or otherwise?”

“Not yet. Thank you Loki.”

“No trouble. You can bathe in there, should you wish.” He caught the girl’s eye and his mouth curled up briefly, only for a second.  _ Was that a smile? _ Loki turned and gestured to his bathroom. “Would you like me to bring you anything?” (Y/N) chewed her lip, wondering if she was pushing her luck with the man. 

“Could I maybe have a pop tart?” She asked quietly.

“A… pop tart? You mean the things my idiot brother keeps shoving down his throat?” This imagery made a weak smile emerge on her face, and in return once again a glimpse of a smile ghosted over Loki’s face. 

“Yeah. Those.”

“I shall bring a multitude.” (Y/N) grinned at him as he swiftly turned to the door, on his way to fulfill (Y/N)’s request. She snuggled down further into the covers, before Loki opened his door and Peter scrambled to his feet right outside.

“Mr. Loki, sir, can I see her? Please? I need to talk to -” He stopped as he caught her eye for a second through the slightly open door. She looked away quickly. “(Y/N)! Please, (Y/N), let me talk to you. Just for a few moments, please.” 

Loki barred his way into the room, and just before the door closed, she heard Loki say “My apologies, child. No visitors just yet.” Peter slumped in defeat against the wall as the door shut. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must tend to my patient.”

“Mr. Loki, please let me talk to her. Please.” Loki acknowledged the dismay in the boy’s face, and his expression softened, only slightly. 

“Not yet. When she is ready.” He stalked off in a swish of his long, dark jacket and Peter slid down to the floor. Meanwhile, inside, (Y/N) had started to cry again.


	14. Chapter 14

Hey guys. I know those of you who have this bookmarked are gonna be a little disappointed thinking this is a chapter. I’m really struggling with writers block and every time I try and write I can’t think so I’ve had a chapter that’s been barely been added to for the past few weeks. I’m a lil bit burnt out at the moment for creativity and I’m kinda struggling with mental health etc at the moment and trying to focus on school. My point is, I have about one chapter written in advance which I’ll post within the next few days but after that it’ll be a while until I update this next. If I can manage to write a few oneshots I’ll let you guys know. Thanks for reading, hope you’ve enjoyed it up to here and if you have any oneshots you want written let me know and I’ll do my best. If you’d like to follow me on Instagram my username is @autumn._.el, you can see what I get up to on there if you like :) Ciao xxx

**Author's Note:**

> I’m tryna keep up with myself lmao I really wanna keep you guys interested and happy but I was gonna post every week but now it’s every couple days so I apologise if I slow up a little bit. I will try my hardest to write more faster. Also sorry this chapter’s a little short  
As always thanks for reading :)


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